Hearts of dusk and darkness
by The Awesome Novice Writer
Summary: SYOT. There's no such thing as good people and bad people. There are only bad people, and worse people. The arena just shows who you really are. On hiatus.
1. Prologue

**Chapter Zero: Prologue**

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**Ten years ago**

**The 129th Hunger Games**

**District Ten's Druid Ray's POV**

I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't fucking believe it. After eight days in hell, Saddy and I were the only ones left alive. Despite the odds, despite that there were twenty two other tributes that wanted us dead, in which six of them were trained killers, we had somehow survived against everything that had been thrown at us. It was nothing short of a miracle.

I know that I said that I'd protect Saddy and lead her to victory, but I never in my wildest dreams thought that I'd make it this far. I expected to die in the final twelve, then I expected to die in the final eight, then in the final four. I never expected that it would just be Saddy and I left in the arena.

It was a good feeling, but one mixed in with sadness as I knew what the future looked like for me.

In this moment in time I could still hear and feel my heart racing as it pumped the much needed blood into my body, feeling its warmth in various areas of my body. I could still feel the air make its way painfully into my chest due to my heavy breathing, my excitement. My sight was full of multi-coloured blobs that ever so slowly disappeared to clearly revel the scene in front of me.

I didn't need to see in order to see what was in front of me though, I knew that my enemy was dead, I had heard the cannon fire to signal the death of who I wanted dead, but my body still wanted to move, my mind was rushing with a million thoughts a second. I couldn't think straight, all I could think of was fighting and only fighting. My body was on a rush, and it felt good, but it also felt wrong. I didn't stop it though, I let it flow its course with little resistance, because this feeling of power, something that was only a dream for a poor farmer boy back home, was overwhelmingly good. I loved it.

I continued to stab my knife into the dead tribute, feeling the resistance of her flesh slide against my knife. It was just like my other fights, I just didn't know when to stop. I didn't want to stop, I just wanted to keep going, it just felt so good. Each stab to her chest gave me a rush of joy as I felt the knife sink into her flesh, as I felt her warm blood splash onto my hands, my arms, my chest, and my face. There was no other feeling like what I was experiencing at the moment.

"Druid," Saddy's voice called out to me, no louder than a whisper, but at the same time, it was one of the loudest noises I had ever heard. "She's dead."

"I know." I said as I continued to sink the knife into her body, feeling the pleasant warmth of fresh blood splash onto my body.

"Then stop doing that." She pleaded with her whisper and shout. It was strange to hear the volume of her voice like that. It confused me.

I stopped, but only for her, if it were up to me I'd still be stabbing this body and continue to feel this rush of pleasure.

I breathed in and out some more, trying to calm myself down, trying to get myself away from my primal instincts and come back to reality again. And as much as my inner self hated me, I managed to get my breathing to grow softer and calmer as my heart slowed down and the spots in front of me slowly disappeared, allowing me to see the world in colour clearly again.

I felt Saddy's hands wrap around my chest as she said.

"Come on Druid, let's go." I managed to stand up with her help, the burning pain of my injuries getting to me now that I was out of my animal like state. Another reason I hated returning to humanity.

I saw the bright red blood on my hands and knew that most of it wasn't mine, it was from the one I had slain.

But the burning sensation that I felt was my own. I looked down to see all the deep cuts that I received in the arms, the one long, wide cut that I received to my stomach that threatened to spill all my guts out of my body if I moved the wrong way even once. I placed my right hand over my stomach to hold in my guts in, or at least keep in as much as I could. My chest was also covered with cuts and blood and holes, I didn't have long to live with all this blood pouring out of me like an over flooded well.

From the sudden wave of pain I was experiencing, the sight of some of my own purple and brown intestines hanging out of my stomach like loose ropes, and the feeling of my right hand touching soggy, slimy, overgrown worms became too much for my body as I felt something build up inside my stomach before it rose to my chest.

I then felt the warm, acidic taste of metallic blood rush out of my mouth as I vomited the thick, crimson liquid from my mouth, leaving a retched taste that I could only describe as warm, metallic, and raw horse liver.

But as I looked beyond myself, I knew that my injuries were nothing compared to the one that laid before me. The girl from District One, also known as Gold, laid in the bloody plain of grass as her blood pooled around her body. The injuries that Saddy and I gave her were much more intense then the ones that I, or even Saddy, had received, but that still didn't mean that the wounds that Gold had given us weren't harmless.

Gold Evergreat had two bloody holes where her eyes should have been, her face was so cut up and caved in that even her mother wouldn't recognize the red paste in front of her. Even her hair, whatever hadn't been torn from her scalp, had turned from the bright sun like colour it had been to a dark red, formed from her own blood, and the blood of her victims. The teeth that she used to smile with, the ones that seemed to sparkle whenever she opened her mouth, were all missing, scattered somewhere in the field around us, leaving an empty mouth filled with nothing but blood, bits of tongue, and flesh. And that wasn't even mentioning the rest of the cuts and holes and guts and bones sticking out of her body like some sort of grotesque Capitol clay art model.

Gold's body looked like it had been chewed apart by wild dogs, about half of her skin was missing, ripped from her bones, while her intestines looked as if they slithered out of the hole her stomach used to be. Her ears were missing from, the mess that was her head. Not all of her fingers were sill attached, and what was attached was broken, bits of white bone were sticking out. Flaps of skin that had been torn from her body gently moved in the direction of the summer breeze while some of her limbs were twisted into impossible angles. And blood, blood was everywhere.

Even to me right now, it was hard to imagine how the two of us could have possibly done that to that girl. How could we of twisted her body into that shape and form? I didn't think about it too much, this was the Hunger Games, and things like this have happened before. Nothing is impossible in the games.

"Druid," Saddy, her voice much clearer then before, much more normal sounding in volume now, said to me with sadness in her voice. "We're the only two left."

"I know." I told her painfully. We were the only two left, and that meant that one of us was either going to have to kill the other, or one of us was going to have to commit suicide.

I turned around to look at my district partner, my friend, the girl I loved, and saw that her face was full of pain. The pain on her face wasn't from the fact that her left cheek had been torn from her body, reveling that side of her mouth, or the fact that her face had a huge diagonal slash across it, or from the other numerous cuts across her body. No, her pain was from sadness, and I bet I had the same painful look on my face as well.

I knew what this was about, because I had the same thoughts rushing through me head as well.

"We have choices Druid," Saddy told me with tears building up in her still functioning eye. I knew what those choices were, but that didn't mean that I wanted her to say or do any of them. I had already made up my mind long ago. "We can either fight to the death," she said as I clutched my bloody knife tightly, only half listening to what she had to say. "One of us can kill themselves so that the other will live," I started to lift my knife up so that I could get the deed done. I wanted it to be over, for the both of us. "Or we can die together." She said.

I stopped raising my knife in surprise. This was unexpected.

"What?" I asked her, wondering what she was thinking. This was just too odd.

I saw her pull out her own seven inch combat knife and held the point to my throat. I could feel the cold steel, mixed with some warm blood, on my skin as she began talking again.

"We can kill each other," she told me calmly, like she wasn't talking about the both of us dying in the next minute or so."If we both can't go out, then none of us should win this damn game."

"Is this a joke?" I asked her with deadly seriousness. "If it is I'm not laughing, you think that we can just pull off a Katniss and Peeta stunt like that? You think that I'm stupid? Am I a Peeta to you?" I shouted that last sentence angrily at her. It was so loud that I could hear the echoes perfectly, even after the first three echoes, until it disappeared completely, somewhere in the grassy plain that seemed to stretch forever in every direction.

Last time someone pulled a stunt like this was back in the seventy fourth Hunger Games, a sixteen year old bitch called Katniss Everdeen and a sixteen year old lover boy named Peeta Melark were supposedly in love with each other, but it turned out to be one sided. While Peeta Melark loved Katniss Everdeen with all his heart, or so it seemed, Katniss Everdeen was nothing but a manipulator and a heartless bitch. When they threatened the Capitol with a double suicide, the Capitol accepted their challenge, and won. Couldn't say I was surprised.

It turned out that fire bitch didn't really love camo boy. The berries proved it. Peeta ate the nightlock berries, but Katniss didn't. She manipulated everyone in order to survive.

Was I about to know how Peeta felt when he went to where ever the hell he went? Was I about to be betrayed by the girl I was trying to save?

I... Didn't know how to feel, so I let the emotions come to me without hesitation. I felt anger and confusion.

"I'm not fooling around Druid," she calmly, gently said as she looked down at my knife. I looked down at my knife as well as she grabbed it with her free hand and raised it to her throat. "I'm serious about this, wither you, or the Capitol approves of this, I'm not a Katniss Everdeen, and you're not a Peeta Melark. I'm Saddy Norris, eighteen, resident of District Ten, and your Druid Ray, Seventeen, resident of District Ten and the best kid I know." My heart filled with joy hearing those words from her. But I still had my doubts.

"What makes you think that I should believe you?" I asked, still feeling anger and doubt in my mind. "Katniss said the same thing before making Peeta commit suicide."

"Because I promise you," she simply said "and when have I ever broken a promise to you?" Never. You always kept your promises, even in this hell hole, you kept your promises. Something that rarely ever happened. And one of the reasons that I never betrayed you and always trusted you watching my back.

"Okay." I told her, satisfied that she wasn't joking, before she lowered her knife to my stomach.

"At the same time." She said, lowering her knife to my stomach.

"Yeah." I told her, knowing what to do.

"I promised," she said to m. "Now what about you?" After all this, there's no way that I'd not do this.

"I promise you." I told her with every feeling that was inside me.

"Good," she replied happily. "I'll count down. We stab each other on one."

"Sure." I told her, not caring how we did this. And even though I believed her, I mentally crossed my fingers just in case she pulled a Katniss stunt on me.

"Ten." She started. "Nine." Did she really mean it though? How do I know that she wasn't manipulating me like Katniss did with Peeta? "Eight." No, she wouldn't, she never breaks a promise. But Katniss did act pretty good when she pretended to be in love with her district partner. "Seven." Was this all an act? Had I fallen into her trap? "Six." I loved her, but did she love me back? Did she really love me back? Was this all fake? "Five."

Had she just manipulating me this whole entire time? How did I know that any of this was real?

I stabbed her in the stomach before twisting the blade and ripping the weapon out of her gut without another thought.

I gasped at what I had just done as the situation dawned on me like a stampede of animals trampling all over my body.

I felt terrible, I had just stabbed her on a whim. A stupid, fucking whim upon impulse.

I dropped my knife in shock as Saddy feel to her knees.

"Saddy!" I shouted as I grabbed her and hugged her tightly with my arms. What had I done? "I'm sorry Saddy!" I cried to her, feeling the tears in my eyes burn me as I felt my heart getting caught in my mouth. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Why did I do that? Why did I stab her like that? She was the one that I had protected this entire time. She was the one that was supposed to live, the one that was supposed to get out of here alive.

We had only known each other for the past two weeks or so, but I felt closer to her then I ever felt for any other girl.

I protected her from every danger in this whole damned arena, I killed people, other kids, to protect her. We were supposed to kill each other at the same time, and yet, I stabbed her so soon.

All this time I was worried about her betraying me, but in reality, I was the betrayer.

Why? Why did this happen? How did this happen? Why was I such a fuck up?

I grabbed the knife in her hands and pulled it, but it wouldn't come out of her hands. I tried again, but she held on to that knife with an iron grip. "Let go Saddy!" I shouted "I need to make this right!" I tried to pry the knife from her, but she continued to stubbornly hold.

Let go damn it! I need you to stab me! I need to let at least your knife stab me!

"Druid," she said weakly, but happily for some reason. "You did make it right."

I was confused by her words, what did she mean that I made it right? I betrayed her, how was that making everything right?

"wha-" I said confused. "What do you mean?"

"Because Druid, I'm not ready to be a Hunger Game champion." She explained. "Or rather, I simply can't be the next champion."

"But," I thought we were going to kill each other, it was her idea after all. "We were going to die together."

Saddy gave out a weak cough, sending out a small amount of blood from her mouth, to my arms.

"Druid, I'm not strong enough to survive in this world anymore. You however, are." She then gave out a weak laugh that sounded painful for her to even do. No doubt it was my fault. "This is probably the worst time to say this, but I really do love you Druid, even though we've only known each other for fifteen days."

I cried even harder. This was too much for me to handle.

"I love you to Saddy." I told her.

"And Druid," She weakly said "I was never going to stab you anyway." Her saying that, only made me feel worse. "Because some promises... Need to be broken."

I held on to her for the last seconds of her life before she expired. Her cannon fired, telling me that she was dead, because of me.

She was smiling, smiling even in the face of death and betrayal. But I couldn't see any reason for her to be smiling. She shouldn't of thanked me, she should of shouted at me, let me stab myself with her weapon, let me bleed out into the grassy plain.

Her being angry at me would of been easier to bare with.

"I now give you the winner of the One hundred and twenty ninth Hunger Games," The announcer's stupid voice boomed through the arena as I closed Saddy's eyes, saving her from looking at me and what I had become. "Druid Ray!"

I had won, but at what cost? I thought I was protecting her, so my actions were justified, that's what I thought when I killed my first victim. I told myself, you're protecting Saddy, they were trying to kill her, you have to protect her from these monsters.

But looking back now, even just a minute ago, I saw that I was also a monster. I started out as many of the other kids back home, scared and unwilling to kill anyone.

I made my first kill on the first day of the arena, back then, I was a scared kid that was horrified when I killed Cane Kellar, the boy from District Nine. Back then, after I killed him, I just couldn't believe that I killed another kid, it haunted me, it sent chills down my entire body to think that I had taken another kid's life.

But I had changed from that scared kid that I once was, to someone that would murder and mutilate another teenage girl so badly that her mother wouldn't recognize her before stabbing the girl that I loved, simply because I didn't trust her for a second. I was a murderer and a betrayer.

I now realized that I was a monster as well, and protecting Saddy didn't justify anything.

I now realized that while I was worried about her becoming a Katniss Everdeen, I was actually the fire bitch in another body. This entire time, I had played the game with my own selfish reasons guiding me.

I also realized now, why decent people never win the games.

**One year later.**

I watched the third quarter quell for the, who knows what the number is, I just know I've watched it many many times, watching the former victors go back into the arena because the Capitol wanted to show that even the strongest couldn't take down the Capitol.

Everyone that thought they were safe from the Capitol's reach, were actually now the ones in danger.

Wither it was just a fluke, or because President Snow changed the quarter quell card I did not know nor cared, but it the perfect time to kill Katniss Everdeen, the girl who manipulated the Capitol.

I read in some Capitol history books that Katniss was still kind popular in the Capitol, even though she betrayed the boy who loved her, and had an influence in the increasing levels of rebellious acts throughout Panem. Even though she was a lair, traitor, selfish bitch, she was the icon of Panem for the short while she was still alive.

It made me sick to think that this girl was the influence of the, not even started, second rebellion. There were so many things that could of started a rebellion, and this girl was the catalyst? Not the hunger? Not the deaths? Not the Capitol? Not the games? But her? sickening.

What did she do that was so special? Love in the arena? No, that was fake. Try and challenge the Capitol with those berries? That had been a failure. Showed pity for her little ally Rue? Others had done it before her.

Maybe it was when District Eleven sent her a gift for showing that she cared about Rue, or maybe it was what the twenty four victors did during the interviews of the third quarter quell, held each others hands like a chain that was linked together, to symbolize that the districts were once one, and they could be one again if they all worked together. That could of been it.

I just couldn't understand how she could of started something so big.

On screen, I watched the bloodbath for the seventy fifth Hunger Games begin with barley above mild interest as I had seen it time and time again.

Some tributes dived into the water immediately after the gong sounded, others were hesitant, but they all jumped in eventually. After all, they couldn't stay where they were forever.

The tributes that reached the cornucopia soon discovered that the only supplies it held were weapons. The Capitol was going for a quick game, no messing around with backpacks of food, water, medicine, or protective shelter, they wanted the games to be done and over with as quickly as possible.

I could see why they needed to do that, Capitol history says that the third quarter quell was unpopular among the Capitol audience, as they were going to miss their precious victors, idols, sex toys, and so called friends. But they were also trying to kill Katniss Everdeen in hopes that it would put out the fire she started.

The bloodbath took out the weak, the old, the drunks and the drug addicts while leaving only the strong left to fight.

Among the strong were two main alliances, the anti-careers that consisted of District Three's Betee Micro and Wires Coil, District Four's Finnick Odar, District Seven's Johanna Mason, and District Twelve's Katniss Everdeen. The other alliance, the careers, consisted of District One's Cashmere Sparkle and Gloss Sparkle, and District Two's Brutus Maximums and Enobaria Vice.

District Four's Mags Kale, District Seven's Blight Oak, and District Twelve's Haymitch Abernathy, I suspected, were going to be in the anti-career alliance, but Mags got speared in the back by Brutus while Blight ran into the force field as blood rain fell from the sky while Haymitch easily got disposed of by the District One twins.

Slowly, one by one, for the next three days, the careers killed off the anti-careers and anyone else they could find.

The anti-careers main fighters were Katniss Everdeen, Finnick Odar, and Johanna Mason, those three were the front line warriors while Betee and Wires were support.

The anti-careers had been planing something, as they were setting something up before the careers attacked them.

The epic fight between the careers and the anti-careers was quick and brutal, but both sides took major casualties.

Katniss, taken by surprise, was useless at close range as she got bitten in the neck by Enobaria. I watched with satisfaction as Enobaria ripped out a bloody chunk of her skin while also ripping out a red string attached to Katniss' neck as blood sprayed in every direction, painting Enobaria's face with liquid red.

Enobaria was then skewered through the head by one of Finnick's tridents. The trident was shoved through her head so hard that it cracked the back of her head open before spilling out chunks of raw meat.

At the same time, Johanna single handedly fended herself against the District One twins, trying to keep the two of them back with her hatchets.

The twins attacked as one, and while District Seven's only living female victor managed to defend herself against one attack, the other got through to her and managed to stab her through the side of her skull.

Gloss, having a second mouth appear across his neck an instant before it started to drool red, started to bleed out as he choked on the thick blood. Cashmere, momently stunned by her brother's unstoppable death, got stabbed in the back of the head by Finnick.

The final showdown between Finnick and Brutus was the climax of the quarter quell. Finnick, despite being younger than Brutus, just couldn't fight the sharp reflexes and over whelming strength of the older victor.

After killing Finnick with his own Trident by stabbing him through the mouth and severing his spine from his brain, Brutus gleefully murdered the District Three pair, bashing their heads in with his fists, claiming that he never liked them anyway.

I shut the T.V off and sighed.

"And that's," I said to myself. "Is how you kill the second rebellion." I said that every time I finished watching the third quarter quell, it was like a tradition for me now. When I had started I couldn't remember, not that it matter I guess.

As I sat in my victor house, I thought of what the events of the rebellious acts of some of the districts, mine included, did for the districts of Panem.

Because of that girl, that fire bitch, the districts only became worse then they were before. I don't know what happened to the other districts, but I know that just by my home, things have gotten worse. My grandparents, who lived through the changes following the rebellious acts of the district, said that poverty in the district became higher, starvation rates soared while the number of peacekeepers increased and more people were whipped, tortured, and publicly executed.

Our lives had gone down the drain because of that girl.

But in a way, I was glad that it had happened. After all, it was bound to of happened at one time or another, since the tension was high before. The rebellion was done and over with, and now we were suffering even more, but at least we all knew that it was impossible to defeat the Capitol now.

We weren't going to go on any rebellions, we weren't going to make our lives any harder then they already were, we weren't going to sacrifice more lives in vain, we were just going to live.

Now here we are, living like nothing had ever happened. The Capitol continues to rule us, and the Hunger Games continue.

Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire. A fitting name for her since she was the one who created wild fire across this damn country. They said she was a beacon of hope, but all she really was was an unsteady oil lamp that fell and burned her home before spreading its inferno to her neighbors.

But for all she had done to everyone, Katniss Everdeen somehow remained a symbol, an idol, unforgettable. While Saddy, who was a better person then Katniss could ever be, was nothing more than another, forgotten tribute in the arena.

Guess the only tributes that get remembered are monsters.

No. We're all monsters in our own way.

Hell, even Saddy was a monster for letting me kill her and leaving me in this dreadful world. And while I did want to join her in the afterlife, I wasn't going to let her gift of life go to waste.

With anger quickly building up inside me because of that thought, I gave the under side of the table a hard kick, a kick hard enough to send it airborne before it loudly crashed back onto the floor. The shattering of glass occurring almost musically.

Saddy may of let me live, but she certainly didn't give me life. The things that I have to live with, the things I have to do and the people I have to deal with along with the conditions I'm under. All of those added together with me living in this shittacular world made it a living hell.

Dying would be easier.

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back, and this story is also back under a different name.**

**Revised chapters that I hope will make the story better then it was before. Wither it'll be better or not I do not know.**

**Anyway, for the first chapter I took away Steel Redstone and instead used an already existing character. **

**Anyway, for the upcoming chapters, even though they are revised, you'll reconize them very easily.**

**In other news, old readers, new readers, enjoy.**

**I'd also like to thank my beta reader, TardisWithWifi, for pointing out some of my grammar issues. I don't know if I caught them all, but still.**


	2. Chapter 1 part 1

**Chapter 1: Meet the tributes**

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**Twenty minutes after the reapings**

**President Frost's POV**

"So here's the re-cap on the reapings," My secretary, Yori, excitedly said to me as I took a quick breather from finishing up everything that was going into the games and explaining to the gamemakers, engineers, and mutt controllers, what was basically going to happen in the arena this year. I couldn't guarantee them that everything I said to them was going to happen, but I did tell them what to maybe expect at least. Like if a tribute went into a certain building a certain kind mutt would be in there. But for the most part, I was just going to play it by ear. Nothing was ever certain, even if you spend months planning it.

It was my first year as president, and I wanted to make sure that I made an impact on the audience this year, show them that I can handle one of the more important things in the world's eyes, the Hunger Games. Really, it was one of the few things that everyone in the Capitol looked forward to, and as such, they wanted everything as close to perfect as you could humanly get it. The districts on the other hand just viewed it as another year of kids killing kids and wanted it done as quickly as possible as the parents and siblings and other kin wanted their family member to come back home and not die.

Well, this year was going to be perfect. A little different from what they normally expect, but perfect, because I was going to direct the games myself. This year, the head gamemaker was only going to be on display for show, because there had to be someone in that position of power. President's weren't supposed to get directly involved with the games themselves, but we were always there to either praise the head gamemaker, or to get rid of them if things didn't go over well.

All that was left was to see who would take part in this creation of mine, and I was excited to see who was going to play this year. "Starting in District One is Griffin Holloway and Lynsa Fylar." She explained to me as she dropped two open manila folders on my desk. Thankfully I had cleared the desk of notes, binders, snack wrappers, coffee cups, and other similar items off earlier today. I still couldn't believe that I spent over half the time at my desk doing paper work and writing up designs and the likes.

The bright orange haired women pointed to the picture of the male first. Short, messily gelled black hair and muscled all around with bright hazel eyes. He wore a stunning suit encrusted with jewels along with a simple rope necklace.

In big, bold text above his photo was his name, Griffin Holloway. Below his picture was basic facts about him, such as his district number, his age, how much he weighed, hair colour, eye colour, family members both alive and deceased, and crimes if they had committed any. Just like the basic files were supposed to say. "First up is Griffin Holloway," She explained to me. "Age seventeen, volunteered, had to fight a couple of kids to get the spot." I liked that she spoke only what needed to be heard and not much more, it saved a lot of time.

Seventeen years old, he looked more like he was twenty, but being that strong would do things to people's looks. "Next up is Lynsa Fylar," My secretary told me as she moved her finger from the boy to the girl.

The next picture she pointed to showed a thin, pretty girl with brown blond hair with bright hazel eyes that looked nearly golden. She was wearing a white-pink sleeveless dress. "Age eighteen, volunteered, fought nobody to get on stage."

I was only mildly surprised to hear that she didn't have to fight anyone. Sure there were the occasional fights, but it still surprised me that there weren't more kids wanting to get the position badly as they had all been breed for the games.

Another set of heavy papers hit my desk with a light, scrape splash like sound before the open binders overlapped the previous tribute pictures. "Next up is District Two." Yori told me as she pointed to the male. He had shoulder length dirty blond hair and facial features that looked too small for his rounded face, and that included his light blue eyes. "First up is Lucifer Despar. Age eighteen, volunteered, fought every kid from age fourteen to age eighteen, or so it seemed."

That was typical for District Two, they fought things out rather than outright volunteered. I wasn't surprised to hear that he had to fight through nearly every kid to get his spot. "Next up is Helena Draconix," She explained to me as she pointed to the next photo.

In that photo was a girl who looked far too young to be a career with long black hair, almond shaped emerald eyes. She had a really small build, but was pretty at that. She wore a coral pink, knee length dress. "Who seems to want to be called Howl for some reason." That part didn't interest me as much as her name, I felt as if I heard that name before.

I looked down to the family section and noticed that everyone in her family was either a victor or a trainer. No wonder I recognized the name. "Age twelve, volunteered, fought every kid that wanted to volunteer. But she didn't fight directly per say, she hopped across their heads and shoulders before getting to the stage and knocked over the reaping bowl. Needless to say, there were lots of kids that didn't like that a twelve year old stole their spot in the games."

The girl interested me, not only from her family name, but her age and how she was able to get to the stage and beat the older kids to it. She hadn't been scared to go up against the bigger, older kids, and that was saying something considering her size and age. And the way she made an entrance was interesting as well.

Another set of open documents fell onto the District Two files. "District Three has this girl," She continued. "Nessa Christine Johnston. But for short, we'll just call her Nessa Johnston. Age twelve, reaped, shaked while trying to put on a brave face."

A girl the same age as Helena, but their looks were much different. This girl had a medium toned tan with red hair and green eyes, which was an odd combination of body features. But the real defining thing that differed them was that Helena willingly volunteered while Nessa had been reaped and scared.

But what interested me more was the boy that was reaped with her. The one wearing a fully covered metal facial muzzle around his mouth along with a tight straightjacket and a thick black cloth hanging loosely around his neck. He had dark brown hair that exceeded his shoulders in tatters along with a heavy build and sharp, dark green eyes. And like Griffin, he looked in his twenties. "The guy you're looking at now is Zap Philistone, though he claims his real name is Tharizdun. Age eighteen, reaped, hated that the name Zap was called instead of Tharizdun."

Very interesting. "He had to be escorted by five peacekeepers to, and from the stage. Everyone seemed to of loved that he got reaped, except for Nessa and the escort." Very interesting indeed, he could be very useful in putting on a dream game. "Speaking of the District Three escort, you should probably have a talk to her about asking for volunteers and having an attitude problem. It's bad for television."

It was also bad for your career, or your life if it comes to that. I will have a talk with her when she comes back to the Capitol. If I don't give some sort of punishment, the Capitol citizens will be out raged, and the gamemakers and other escorts will think that they can get away with things, which wouldn't make anything better.

Another set of files appeared on top of the District Three pair. "First we've got Shoney Germoal," She continued as she pointed to a kid with ice blue eyes, short and messy light brown hair, and a barely noticeable tan. Something I would of expected to be heavier since he was from District Four.

And while he was small for a career, he was still healthier looking then a lot of kids in the non-career districts. "Age fifteen, volunteered, didn't have to fight anyone." Well, District Four was that career district where they may of been trained, but they still didn't have the same enthusiasm as Districts One and Two.

I looked over to the girl's photo as my secretary started to explain more about the wavy red headed, green eyed, and thin girl that, like her district partner, was thin but healthy. She wore a costume made of green scales. "Evaline Ellery." She told me as I looked at the girl with the scar across her right eye brow. "Age sixteen, reaped, was happy getting to the stage, but then her smile faded when nobody volunteered for her."

Reaped huh. Well, again, this is a place where some years aren't that full of volunteers in District Four. Kind of disappointed that there weren't two volunteers from Four.

The two District Four tribute photos disappeared as they were replaced by two new ones. "District Five." She said before pointing to the girl. A brown haired girl with brown eyes with large breasts. "Valerie Snake. Age eighteen, reaped, pleaded for someone to volunteer for her. Threw a tantrum like a little kid. Mayor's daughter."

Well that explained a lot, she was a spoiled kid that wanted everything her way. Being the mayor's daughter probably had a lot to do with it.

I liked at the other photo, to see a strange sight. A boy with white hair that hadn't been whitened by time and blood red eyes that looked like they hated the world. "Alexander natas." She told me as she pointed her finger towards the white haired albino. "Age fifteen, reaped, walked up to the stage while ignoring the insults thrown his way."

Well, I guess he was hated in the district. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they called him a freak or a demon with that hair and eyes of his.

Another pile of files quickly appeared on top of the District Five ones. "District Six has Rayne Page." She told me as she pointed to the girl of District Six.

The girl had an interesting hair colour. She had many shades of blond on her head that went a little over shoulder length. The dye job was most likely homemade, as it had flaws all over the place. The eyes the colour of champagne, a thin body that was noticeably thin at the neck. She also had thick eye lashes with an uneven tan on her body along with a hooked nose. She also wore a simple red shirt and black pants. "Age seventeen, reaped, acted confident."

She probably acted that way. Most older kids try to do that instead of crying all over the stage. "The next person is Ricky Coler." My secretary said before pointing to the male. A kid with pale skin, strawberry blond hair, and black eyes that looked more like huge pupils then eyes. "Age fourteen, reaped, just walked up there."

Hmm. Nice, nice. Interesting, though really, I was forgetting about Ricky already. The only reason I was still remembering him was because of his black, hole like eyes.

Another set of files appeared in front of me. "Up next is Sami Lavisa." She said to me, pointing to the orange haired girl, green eyed, pale skinned girl who wore a vintage tan dress. An interesting choice of dress. "Age fifteen, reaped, was scared."

Well, most kids seem to be that way, though this year's batch seems to be handling it good. Making me wonder who they'd react in the arena. I also wondered if they were faking emotions to make them look braver then they really were. "Next is Bo Heatherfield," She told me, pointing to the male. A blond, spiky haired under a white bandana, blue eyed kid with freckles across his nose and cheeks. "Age seventeen, reaped, scared."

Well, looks like the District Seven tributes had something in common with each other. "Oh yes, they also cried while shaking hands." My secretary added. It made me wonder if they knew each other, or were just that scared to go into the games.

Another pile of papers landed on my desk covering up the pictures of the two criers. "District Eight has December Juliet Varen, but to make things simple, she likes to be called Ember." Perfect, not too many people would want to say that whole name too many times.

I looked at the springy, curly, chocolate coloured hair that ran down to her mid back, her oval dark chestnut coloured eyes and slender body with a medium tan and wondered what her reaction was as she walked to the stage in a green shirt and white skirt. "Age fifteen, reaped, ran to the stage as fast as she could." Wonder why she did that? To get it over with?

"Next we have Dav Anders." She said before pointing to a picture of a kid that was fat in certain places on his body, black spiky hair, and blue eyes. "Age eighteen, reaped, angry." Angry. Well, that was uncommon of a tribute. A surprise if I can say that much. "He refused to shake Ember's hand, like he was too good for that." Must be a rich snob, like that Valerie girl.

The sound of heavy paper falling occurred again before their pictures were covered up and I was presented with two new pictures. "Now we've got District Nine," Yori said as she pointed to the girl with a thin body, brown skin, dark brown hair with dark brown eyes that appeared to be almost black. She wore a tanned, collared dress. "This one's Talliana Messine. Age seventeen, reaped, had a snarky attitude when asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for her. She claimed that nobody would volunteer for her."

I'm guessing she was right, she was on her way here, and hardly anyone would volunteer out of the career districts. "Up next is Arrowe Winter," She continued, pointing to a boy who had a pretty muscular body along with a semi-tan, short black hair, two black stud piercings in his right ear, and multi-coloured eyes. The one on his left was a dark brown while his right was a bright green. He wore a dark green button up shirt with three of the button missing from the top along with beige pants.

It interested my curiosity and made me wonder how he got the different colours. Was he an albino like Alexander? Or was it the results of something else? "Age eighteen, volunteered, didn't have to fight anyone."

Volunteered huh. What an interesting kid, hardly anyone volunteers from the non-career districts. I wonder what made him do it?

I didn't even begin to think when another set of files were slapped on my desk. "I don't think District Ten has much of a chance and are better left forgotten, but, I might as well intreg you." My secretary told me as she pointed to the ginger haired girl with a really thin body, light blue eyes, small eyelashes and small lips. She wore a faded blue dress that looked a bit too small for her under an old work jacket. "Name's Life Lee, age seventeen, reaped, vomited on stage."

Some kids did do that upon realizing that they are going into the games, usually with the thought that they're going to die. She must of felt like a damn fool after. "Next is Max Starling," She continued, pointing to the young boy with slender tan body, long brown hair, grey eyes and freckles across his face. He wore clothes that more resembled rags than clothes. Though that might be all his family could afford. "Age thirteen, reaped, cried on state saying that it wasn't fair." Most little kids to that, it was annoying to watch. Those kids cried and cried, and yet, they thought that they could get out of it by simply using the sympathy card. "You might also want to have a conversation with that district's escort, Aera Hibiscus," The girl told me. "She also picked out the names without asking for volunteers, forced the two kids hands together, threatened the audience, and scratched the tribute Life Lee."

Damn. Not only did I have to deal with Starbright Williams of District Three, but now I had to deal with Aera Hibiscus of District Ten. It was going to take time out of designing the arena and making last minute preparations as well as disciplining the gamemakers to some changes that were going to be made for the games.

Another set of files was set on top of the previous files. "On to District Eleven which has this girl, Angel Hale." She explained to me as I looked at the picture of the girl who didn't look like she should be from that district. Light skin, green eyes, wavy black hair, and a minimal amount of freckles. She also had large breasts. She wore a simple yellow dress.

I wonder how she managed to keep her skin white while in District Eleven. "Age fourteen, reaped, tried to look brave and failed." Expected as much. "The next one is Aerin Sevani. Escort had trouble saying his name." I would of loved to see her making a fool of herself. "Age fourteen, reaped, actually seemed kind of calm, helped his escort say his name properly."

He was probably putting on an act, kids that get reaped are scared, despite how they act. "Oh yes," She said like she just suddenly remembered something. "A search party was sent to get Aerin, something about misinformation or something or other."

What exactly did that mean? Did he try to run away?

No, this brown skinned, black haired, stocky kid wearing a white shirt and black pants wouldn't of been so calm going up on the stage if he was trying to run away. So why did a search party have to called for him?

Another set of papers was piled onto my desk. The last set of papers. The last tributes. District Twelve, the home to that mockingjay girl. The one who made a promise to free the districts and bring ruin to the Capitol through a doom rebellion.

I hated District Twelve with a passion because of that girl.

The rebellion may of not of gotten far, but she managed to create enough chaos for it to reach into the Capitol itself. And because of that, one of my best friends got killed by suicidal citizens of our hometown before the fuckers moved in to kill members of her family.

Some escaped, but I remember that they got caught and were executed in vicious ways. It was kept in the dark except for those related to the deceased family members. And because they had taken me in when my parent's lives had expired two years before the rebellion, I was considered part of their family, and was allowed to watch the executions.

While the Capitol folks around me were disgusted by the peacekeepers heinous acts, I watched with glee as they tortured the information out of them before lighting them on fire while they were still alive. I could still smell the stench of burning flesh to this day.

Thinking back, I found it funny how they cheered and loved the murders of the Hunger Games, but when the killing was in front of them, they puked their guts out and didn't want to look at what was happening in front of them. A complete contrast to how they acted back home.

District Twelve, I wonder what they had to offer. "Last up is District Twelve. That district might be trying to spark a third rebellion, or they just hate the Capitol a lot, because someone attacked the new escort, Crystal, by throwing a rock at her." Of course District Twelve would be the district to do something like that, I thought, as she pointed to the girl tribute. A blond haired, blue eyed, pale skinned that was actually good looking. She wore a blue dress with white trim on it. "Name's Evanlyn Scott, age fourteen, reaped, looked worried." Typical. "Next we have Colin Aldrin," She explained as I looked at the photo of the overweight kid with short blond hair and blue eyes. "Age seventeen, reaped, clumsy as hell as it took him a few tries to get up the stairs to the stage. Actually made everyone laugh." I bet, it was funny seeing someone hurt themselves. "And that's all." She finished, leaving a stack of manila tag portfolios containing basic tribute files on my desk.

I thought of the tributes and how some were different in their own ways, while others were the same in that same sense. Though, I wondered how they would individually act when they entered the arena, when they start changing for better or worse. When they start to revel their true colours and show the world who they really are.

I looked up from the files, to see my secretary leaving the room as quickly as she had came in.

She talked so quickly and paused so shortly that I didn't even get a chance to say anything, and she was going to leave me without letting me say anything at all? Well, she knew I was busy and I had told her that as well for the past couple months, but there was still something that I wanted to ask her.

"Yori." I called to her, causing her to stop in her tracks and look back to me with hints of fear in her body. She looked like she was worried that she had done something wrong. Very worried.

I couldn't understand why people did that to me. Why they were so scared of me. I mean sure, I could have them sentenced to death in a second, but I wasn't just going to do it to everyone that I saw or disliked. And if they did do something wrong, it would have to be pretty bad if I was going to kill them.

"Yes ." She said politely to me.

"Do you think the games are too family friendly?" I asked, thinking about how The Hunger Games have changed from when they were first established and how they were today. How so much different they were compared to now.

I looked to Yori for her answer, in which she quickly replied.

"The games are meant for us to enjoy. We have everyone watching them with their family, which might involve kids. But while I do think that some of the games are a little too violent for the little kids, I do think that it should be more of an enjoyable event then anything else."

I felt my frustration level rise from hearing her say that. I didn't like her response, but then again, what was to be expected from a typical Capitol citizen like her.

"So you think rules like disposing cannibals, rapists, torturers, and censorship should be applied?" I asked her, wondering what she thought of that.

"Of course." She told me, making me hate this conversation even more. "Nobody wants to watch someone eating someone's heart. Or watching some guy rape a helpless girl." What made you so quickly think that a guy was the rapist? There have been times where a girl was going to rape a guy. "Torturer is no fun to watch." And watching someone kill someone else is? "So yes, censorship should be put in. I mean, it's not enjoyable if you not having any fun watching it is it?" She said to me.

"No, it's not." I said to her, thinking back to that day sixty four years ago. The day those prisoners were killed and the reactions of the Capitol citizens that witnessed it.

I also thought of how they were missing the entire point of the games. But this was the Capitol, and the games were meant to send a message to the Districts. "Thanks." I told her, not wanting to see her for a while. "You may go now." She happily obeyed.

I gave a deep sigh of frustration before remembering the gamemakers reactions for when I presented them my plans. Their shocked, horrified expressions. They looked at me like I was a monster.

Well, if that's what they were going to think I was, so be it, I was going to remind them and the districts what the Hunger Games were originally meant for.

I began sorting the files over my desk, looking over anything that I might be able to use from them. And the more and more I looked the files, I thought, yes, I could use them, and turn my vision into a reality.

**A/N: A much shorter version of the reapings. Though only one person complained before, I'm still going with this reaping style as I discovered that me doing reapings are boring, hard, and take a lot of energy out of me. And for people wondering about meeting the tributes, the goodbyes are in the next chapter.**

**Oh yes, new pictures of some of the tributes are on my profile.**


	3. Chapter 1 part 2

**District One**

**Griffin Holloway's POV**

As the peacekeeper in front of me kept on telling me that I could only see one person at a time and I could only be with them for a minute or so, all I felt was irritation towards his endless blabbing. I just wanted to tell him to shut up, that I knew how this thing worked, that I'm not stupid.

But by the time I was about to give him a piece of my mind, and not in a vocal way either, he was done blabbering. He had turned his back towards me and was walking out the door. I grunted in a mixture of satisfaction and annoyance. Fine, be that way, I didn't need you to tell me how to say goodbye anyway.

I sighed and tried to relax as I felt specific parts of my body start to jerk about.

By the time I had taken my second breath, I heard the door open. I looked up to see my father walk in, and in his arms was Alura, my three year old little sister. Seeing her enter the room made calming down an even bigger priority. I didn't want her to get caught in the middle of a fight.

My father I didn't care about. He could get punched out by me and I wouldn't care in the least. Unlike Alura, he deserved a beating.

"Hi son." My father said to me with the slightest trace of a smile on his face, something he rarely did since mom had died two years ago.

"Father." I answered with a little emotion as possible, as he didn't even deserve to be talked to on the same level as my little sister. I looked at Alura and flashed her a smile before saying, with more emotion. "Alura."

"Ti-Ti." She said happily to me. Ti-Ti, her official name slash nickname for me since she could speak. She couldn't say my name when she first tired, so she decided to call me something simpler, easier to pronounce. And since she first called me that, it stuck. It was cute, made me feel good.

"Father." I said still looking at Alura who was reaching out for me. Like she wanted to play with me again, like I wasn't going to be sent to my death. Which I wasn't, I was going to come back, and I don't know if she knew that, but I was coming back for her. I was going to come back a victor, then we could play with anything she wanted. "Care for her."

"I will." My father said like I had told him he was incapable of doing such a thing. Which he practically was. I was angry at him for that. I was the brother, not the father for Alura, he was, and yet, who raised her? I did, not him. Me. I did everything while he just sat around in a slump and watched as someone else filled the father role of his daughter.

I was only asking him because he was the only choice at the moment. My other choice had his hands full, and he, as much as he was a good care taker, wouldn't be able to aid Alura to the best of his abilities.

I gave a sharp exhale of bitter air towards the man who dared call himself our father.

Even though I didn't like saying anything to that man, there were things that had to be said. Especially in this situation.

"Useless."

"Cretin." The old man immediately countered, making me feel heat building up in my face. How dare he call me that! And he shouldn't be talking, he hadn't done anything with his life for the past two years! He had only been a burden, nothing else.

I quickly pulled back my right hand, curled my fingers into a fist, and threw said fist straight towards his face, only to feel the force of falling lead crash against my hand. My father had retaliated with his own fist, and both our fists had smashed against each other with such force that it would of broken anyone else's fingers. But of course, I wasn't everyone else.

"Boy!" I heard the stupid peacekeeper who spoke jiberjaber moments earlier shout into the room. "You want to be ejected from this room in a couple of fucking seconds?" He asked as he pointed a rectangular, box like object as me as the front of it crackled with blue lightning. "Or do you want to see your next visitor? Either way, I don't mind."

I snarled at that peacekeeper for acting as tough as he thought he was. He was at least four inches shorter then I was and didn't look nearly as strong as myself or even my father. That, and he was nearly as old as my fifty six year old father. If he didn't have that weapon he was nothing. One on one, unarmed, I could easily beat him.

I gave an angry sniff at the two old men, giving them both glares.

I watched as my father took my sister away from me. Alura didn't seem to want to leave, but father was taking her away from me as their time with me was up, and lead her out of the room. But not before I saw him turn back towards me and said a final word of farewell.

"Dragon." I heard him say before the door closed behind him.

Just hearing the name made me want to punch him in the face. I hated my older brother Dragon.

Dragon. That guy who was always the top dog of the family, the one that always got the attention of everyone while I was just viewed as his little brother. It was always well done Dragon, and your so good at this Dragon. Complements flew in his direction all the time, while no matter what I did, I was always being compared to that bastard, it was irritating that I could never living up to his talents. And it was irritating that it was always about him. Well, I was going to show him, I was going to be what he couldn't be, a victor. He may have been older when he went in, but I'm better them him, I wouldn't die, I would come back and be the one people talked about. I was going to be the son that mom could be proud of.

Mom. I felt a pain in my chest thinking about her, causing me to gently take hold of the simple rope necklace around my neck. A momentum of her.

Even though I hadn't exactly lived up to one of my promises to her, I was going to fulfill my last promise to her. It was only by a year, so, what the hell.

The next person that appeared in front of me was Marq and his little four year old brother, Matt. Marq, my best friend, and only friend. As Marq bumped into the peacekeeper escorting him, I thought of how we were alike in a way. We both raised out younger siblings, we both lost someone precious to us, except he lost both his parents to the sickness that happened two years ago while I only lost my mother.

"Hey Griff." Marq said to me smiling partly out of embarrassment from shoulder bumping the peacekeeper that was manning the door.

"Hey Marq." I said back, still pissed off about what my father had said to me.

"So," Marq said looking around the justice building taking in the scenery. It was a nice place if I say so myself, better then most of the places in the district even. "Going into the games huh, I could never do something like that." That was true, Marq wasn't the bravest person alive, but the games weren't for everyone, like most of the poor district kids who shit their pants upon entering the arena. But Marq was needed here, his brother needed him, and if Marq had somehow gotten reaped into the games, I'd of volunteered for him.

"Hey," I said getting to the point. "Take care of Alura." I then felt something hit me in the shoulder before hearing Marq say.

"I will dude. At least, I will until you get back. Because really, the biggest, strongest, most skilled kid in District One can't lose in the arena when he has a sister to take care of."

I nodded, knowing that what he was saying was true. He and, to a lesser extent, my father, were only going to take care of Alura until I got back from the Capitol as a Hunger Games victor. Still, it felt good that someone would be checking up on my sister and making sure my near useless father actually took care of her.

I couldn't help but feel grateful to my best friend. It made me feel less angry at the moment.

It was then that he had to leave, his time was up. I watched him walk out, partly because I was worried about him, he was hitting stone arches and tripping over the smallest things. But he managed to make it out okay in the end.

Alura, Marq, Matt. They'd be one happy family, even if I didn't make it. Alura and Matt, they'd be happy together, even if I wasn't there. But that chance was slim. I was going to be there, and I'd see that all of them lived happily. I gently rubbed mother's rope necklace and thought of her. I'd win for her as well. That was a promise I was going to keep.

**Lynsa Fylar's POV**

"You're lucky nobody tried to volunteer besides you!" My father shouted at me, like he almost always did. It was so normal that I almost never noticed him shouting at me anymore. "If anyone even thought of volunteering this year, you wouldn't have even stepped foot on that damn stage!"

"But I did." I told him to show that I wasn't scared of him, only to get hit in the chest by his hard fist, knocking the wind out of me. If only the peacekeepers didn't stand watch outside. Personal time to spend with my parents? More like personal torture time. Why couldn't they watch what was happening inside to see if something like this was happening and stop it?

"Don't back talk to me like that!" My father raged out at me. "The other tributes out there are bigger and stronger then you, even though your eighteen!" He shouted while waving his arms around in a fit. "And you never wanted to train! What kind of person in District One doesn't want to train?" I could think of a few that didn't want to train. Some people didn't devote their lives for the games. "What makes you think that you'll be able to to beat that Griffin fellow? Or the District Two careers? Or District Four? Or the loser tributes? I bet you couldn't beat a twelve year old from District Twelve if you had a sword and they had no arms!"

I hate swords, they were clumsy and I'd kill them with an arrow instead. That was what I was good at. And I may be small and weak looking, but I was stronger then some of the girls in this district. And I did train, just not up to their extreme standards that I felt were impossible to reach. I hated training because of that.

I managed to stand back up straight and look into my father's eyes that were always full of hatred towards me.

"I'll win," I told him fiercely. I wasn't going to back down just because him and mom beat me and made fun of me. "Then you'll see that I'm not just some little weak girl." My father looked like he wanted to hit me again, and I braced myself for it. I expected it.

"Time's up!" A male voice shouted. I opened my eyes and saw more anger flood into my father's eyes as I felt relief flood my body. He was about to hit me, but that peacekeeper interfered. Thank God he interfered, I didn't want to get punched again, by my father of all people.

Next came my mom, which was about the same thing as my father. She told me that I couldn't do it, that I was weak, that I'd die in the bloodbath if I wasn't in the career pack. She managed to hit me twice before her time was up as well.

I was used to having my parents hit me and tell me how useless I was, but it still hurt, both physically and mentally. They were my parents and from what I've seen, parents weren't supposed to abuse their kids. It made me wonder why my parents were so different from the other district parents.

Next came my twin brother, Evan. Winner of the games from two years ago.

"Did mom and dad hit you again?" Evan asked worriedly. Out of my family, he was the only one who didn't abuse me, and the only one in the family who generally cared about my well being.

"Not too much." I fake smiled to him. "But I'm fine. Really." I didn't want to worry him too much. And I tried to show that I wasn't in too much pain, even though mom and dad were extremely strong, and pain radiated all over my torso area.

"I'm sorry." Evan told me looking like it was his fault that he couldn't protect me. But it wasn't his fault, he couldn't be with me every time something happened, and he shouldn't feel the guilt he had every time something happened. He was being too hard on himself.

My twin then looked up and smiled at me before saying. "That's a nice dress." And before I knew it, he started to leave. Before I could ask why he was leaving, he answered "I'm not supposed to be here." Had he snuck in just to see me? If so, had he taken a big risk coming to see me? Suddenly, I was worried for my brother's well being.

The next thing I knew, the door had opened and Evan and Apolo looked at each other dumbstruck. It was like they didn't expect to see each other. And really, I don't think they did. But on the other hand, it was kind of funny seeing their expressions as they slowly walked around each other, not taking their eyes off the other.

"You're not supposed to be here." The peacekeeper escorting Apollo roughly told my brother. "Now get on the train." Guess mentors can't see the tributes, even if they are related. So much for Aphrodite seeing me. I felt disappointed, but at least I'd be seeing her on the train.

As Evan left, Apollo entered.

"Hi there." He said to me sweetly as he closed the door behind him.

"Hi." I answered. I thought of Apollo, and how we meet at the training center. Back when I didn't have very many friends, and when I just needed someone to love. He gave me the love I needed. The one that mom and dad never gave to me. I was grateful for him, because Evan was too busy getting pushed by our parents to become a victory, and he hardly spent any time with me.

Who knows where I'd be without him.

"Are you scared?" He asked.

"Yes." I whispered truthfully, feeling as if I could tell him anything. And that was all I needed to say, because before I knew it, I felt his arms wrap around me. I then felt sad that I was leaving him. My best friend, who had given me everything I needed. What if I didn't make it back. I then felt tears build up in my eyes as I cried my heart out on his chest. I might love the Hunger Games, but at the same time, I hate them. The death, the glory, the way they made people. I hoped that I didn't meet someone like my parents in there, or some other psychotic tribute with a fetish for blood.

After crying with Apollo, and feeling a little better after that, I meet up with Areina, a girl who doesn't train, who I admired, because unlike most girls in the district, she doesn't want to be a victor. She didn't have to worry about dying young, or getting strong, skilled, or think about how your life would of been wasted if you didn't get on the stage on time to volunteer. I envied her so much.

Then next came my other friends, then came school mates, then came acquaintances. I was so happy, and so sad that people were coming to see me. I never even knew that may people knew me. That those people cared about me. Now I wish I had taken more time to know them. And I would, if I came back. Which I would, for them, for my friends, for Even, for Apollo. For all of them.

**District Two**

**Helena "Howl" Draconix's POV**

"Helena!" My mom shouted to me clearly displeased with me. "Your father and I are extremely displeased with your decision to volunteer!" I knew it. They always put me down because of my size. Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm not dangerous. I hated the way they thought that I couldn't take care of myself if I got into a fight. "Why are you doing this!?"

"So that I can show you all that I'm not some harmless little girl!" I angrily shouted to my mom to show that I mean business. "I'll show you that I can be a victor too, and at only twelve!" I was going to show her that everyone in this family, even me, could be someone to be proud of.

"That has got to be the worst decision you have ever made!" Mom shouted clearly annoyed. "Because of this, you'll come home in a coffin!" I smiled at her before telling her

"Your just jealous because I'm going to win at the age of twelve, something that you could never do." And this was going to be the best decision that I ever made. I wasn't going to come home in a coffin, I was going to come home a victor, just like almost everyone else in my family.

"UGH!" Mom shouted clearly irritated with me. No, she was just jealous that I was going to be the most famous member of this family. Maybe even all of history! The thought of that made me want to tell a history book to get ready to remember my name. I felt my cheeks rise with the thought. "Why do I even bother trying to talk to you?"

"Time's up!" A peacekeeper shouted.

"Perfect timing," I told mom as I continued to smirk at her. "You were just about to lose this conversation."

"And your about to lose your life!" She shot back. "Just remember that if you die, this family is going to discard you as both a daughter and a sister." She reminded me before leaving. As the door closed I thought of how everyone underestimated me just because of my figure. God. I may be small and thin. But mom wasn't that tall, and Elektra wasn't that tall either, and she was a victor. Fuck. I was always the underdog of this family. Why didn't anyone see me for victor material?

"Howl!" Called out a voice. I looked up to see my seventeen year old sister, Athena. "How's it going?"

"Be better if mom and dad didn't think that I couldn't win." Though really, I was going to have them eat their words when they saw me in the post-game interview. Athena's face fell into a frown as she heard those words.

"Sorry to hear that. I mean," she then started to smile again. "How could they think that this little thing could lose?" She said before she started to ruffle my hair. I pushed her hand away while smiling at her, covering up my mild soreness she just made towards her.

"This little thing is going to be the greatest victor ever." I told her confidently. And I was, there has never been a twelve year old victor before. I was going to be a living legend. I wasn't just going to make history, I was going to be history.

"Hope so." Athena said before leaving. "See you in the Capitol little Howler."

I hate being called little. Before I could say anything back to her, she was gone. And in her place came Azael, my nineteen year old brother. The charming and attractive one of the family that the girls flocked to. I couldn't see why the girls were attracted to him when he's such a jerk sometimes. Maybe it's true what they say about fan girls, they'll ignore everything bad about you just because your good looking. I could see that in this case.

"Hey there little girl? What you doing here? You lost or something?" He teased. I didn't find it funny, I found it lame and annoying.

"Very funny." I sarcastically told him before quickly adding. "What do you want?" Azael sighed.

"Just want to see how my little sis is doing." He told me with some faked sensitivity in his voice.

"Sure," I said looking away from him and crossing my arms annoyed with him. "Sure you are."

"Look, sorry about mom and dad and everything, ok, just, don't think about it right now, ok?"

"Fine, I'll try." I told him thinking of everyone's reactions when I came home victorious. Then he left. Short visit.

Next came in my fifteen year old brother, Xephyr.

"Elecktra couldn't be here," Xephyr told me as he was coming through the door. "But she told me to tell you that she's upset with your decision, same as me." Can't say I was surprised. I was being underestimated again. Why do they all do this? What the hell is wrong with me? How am I so different from everyone else? Except my size?

"Geez," I told him irritated that neither he nor Elecktra didn't like me volunteering. "It's my decision." Xephyr might have my respect and he might be my favorite sibling, but that doesn't mean he can treat me like everyone else.

"You should have waited three or six years." Xephyr told me. "That way, we wouldn't have to see you die."

"I don't need six years," I told him calmly. "I don't even need one year, I'll win, then everyone will know not to underestimate me again."

"Well," He said smiling. "If that's the way it is, show them who's boss." Yeah, I thought happily, that's why you're my favorite. Thanks for saying that bro. "Oh yes, Athena and Azael forgot to say, win, or we'll kill you personally."

"Tell them that won't be necessary." He nodded his head before leaving.

Next rushed in three people. First I saw twelve year old Aurora, then thirteen year old Nexus, followed by fourteen year old Ares. My three best friends.

"Hay!" A voice shouted behind them. It was the peacekeeper guarding the door. "One at a-" He started, but then seemed to instantly re-think his words. "Forget it." He then closed the door before my three friends crashed into me sending me to the floor laughing.

"There's our victor!" Aurora shouted cheerfully. Unlike my family, at least she's good to me, one of the things I really liked about her.

"Damn straight!" I told her, feeling the pleasure of people that actually thought that I had a chance and didn't judge me on my decision to compete.

"I can't believe it, this tiny thing's beating me!" Nexus shouted in what I guessed was jealousy.

"Don't call me that non-volunteer baby!" I retorted.

"Says the one that broke the reaping bowl! Can't you do a proper combat roll!?"

"Says the guy who's not going to win the games before me!"

"Can't beat her there." Ares told him. "No matter what you say or do, she'll always win first."

Ares. "That is, if she wins." I pushed him back before laughing confidently.

"I'll win, you can bet on that, unlike someone." I said looking at Nexus.

"Yeah... Well... I'll..." He said struggling to find his next words. "I'll volunteer next year."

"I still beat you." I told him, not even having to think before responding.

"Hay, shut up." He responded quickly, but with the dispair of feeling defeated. Yes, I win again.

"Guys, we're going to run out of time." Ares told the group before they all pulled themselves together and became serious. That was when Ares pulled out an emerald green notebook from his jacket pocket. "We got this, for you."

"For some reason, Ares kept on insisting we get the emerald coloured one." Nexus interrupted. And that made me think, did he feel the same way I did? Did he feel for me what I felt for him? I was never sure. Was this his way of saying it?

"I thought that was best." Ares quickly said. "Anyway, we want you to write about your adventures, so that when you come back, we can write stories about the young victor of Two."

"Plus you love writing, don't you?" Aurora said.

"Thanks guys." I told them happily, thinking that this was a better token then some useless trinket. "I'll write down everything, then, I'll be back and we'll be playing again."

"You better not lose." Ares told me before the peacekeeper told them that their time was up. As all three of them left, I held the notebook close and tight to my chest. They believed in me, they all did. That's why I loved them so much.

**Lucifer Despar's POV**

"I've trained my whole life for this," I told my mom who was standing there worried about me, even though there was no reason to. "I'll be fine, who's going to kill me? That little girl that volunteered with me? Some untrained tribute from Twelve?"

"The other careers." My mom answered. She was worried, so worried about me that it hurt me just thinking about it.

"Don't worry mom," I said trying to make her feel better. I didn't like seeing her like this. "I can take care of them, and if I can't, I can run away, I can run forty yards in just over four seconds, they won't catch me."

"But what if you get into a fight?" My mom asked. "Your not going to be the strongest one out there." I couldn't think of that, the best thing I could tell me mom was

"Strength doesn't mean everything." It was at that moment that the peacekeeper guarding the room told her that her time was up. Mom left, dad entered. I just hoped that what I said to her made her worry less.

"Son." Dad said proudly as he opened his arms and gave me a big huge which I returned. "I'm so proud of you boy."

"You made me into this." I told him happily, glad that he wasn't in the same state as mom was. "A future victor." That's exactly what he did. He pushed me and pushed me to train. But I knew that it wasn't just for him, it was for me as well. So that my future would be good, perfect maybe. I was going to prove that my dad was good trainer, that I was a good fighter, and bring glory to this family.

"I know that your life was uneventful," My dad told me. "But you'll see that it was worth it when you win." I had known that for a long time. Most of my free time was spent training, and I had known that it would eventually make me a victor. Eventful times could come after my victory.

"The Draconix family isn't the only family that can win in District Two." I told my dad, thinking that that family was getting too cocky for their own good. I mean, volunteering at twelve years old, how cocky could you get? "Other families can have victors here, like us." Their little girl wasn't going to stop me. With my experience and training, I would be the next victor. I wasn't the biggest, or the strongest, or even the smartest person in the world. But what matters, is how you put everything together. My dad and I broke free before looking at each other and smiling.

"You make me so proud." My dad told me. I had him to thank. If it weren't for him pushing me, I'd never have made it this far.

"All thanks to you dad." The peacekeeper then told dad that his time was up and he had to leave. Dad gave me one last farewell, then he left.

Next came my friends, first Thor, then Lan, then finally, Mikov. We talked about how I was going to be a victor, how I spent my life training for this. We joked about how that Draconix girl was too cocky for her own good, joked about life. Talked about what would happen if I didn't live. That scared me the most. What if...I didn't come back?

**District Three**

**Nessa Christine Johnston's POV**

"I'm so sorry Nessa." My mother cried. "If only I were younger I'd volunteer for you." If only I hadn't been chosen. I couldn't go in there, there were eighteen year olds who trained for this, compared to them, I was nothing.

"I'm sorry for being reaped." I told her, not feeling well for putting her through this misery. "If I hadn't-"

"You can't choose to be reaped or not," My mom told me while still crying. "It was just...bad luck." More then bad luck I thought. It was a miracle that I lived, it was the opposite to be reaped now. It was almost like fate wanted to take that miracle away. And from the look in my mother's eyes, she could tell it was the same.

"Mom, I was a miracle right?" I asked her. My mother wiped her nose on her shirt sleeve before answering.

"Yes." I was born prematurely. I wasn't supposed to live. I'm not supposed to her here right now. But here I am, living, right now, making everyday a joy for my parents.

"Well," I smiled, thinking of something good. "Maybe another one will happen. Maybe I can get through the games." That seemed to make my mother feel better, because now she was smiling. She was still crying, but smiling at least. That made me feel better.

"Maybe." My mother breathed. "Hopefully." It was then that the peacekeeper told her that her time was up. I didn't like to see my mother like that, but at the same time, I didn't want her to leave.

"I'll win mother!" I shouted to her as she was going to the door. She turned back and faced me as I shouted. "I'll win! I'll come back home and show you that I am a miracle!" I meant every word of it.

I saw my mother smile before my father entered the room and the door closed behind him. My father smiled at me before saying.

"That's what we want to hear." Father then walked up to me before saying. "You know, your mother wasn't that much older then you right now when you were born."

"I know." I told him. Mom was fourteen when I was born, that in a way, was something. "She's something all right."

"Yeah," my father said looking up to the roof. "She is."

"Father." My father looked at me before saying.

"Yes?" Even though it was a long shot. Even though it was almost unheard of. Even though there were monsters in the barbaric games. Even though I was weak, unskilled, and not all the healthy. I said

"I will win. I will win. I will return. And we'll be together again." That, was a promise. A promise that I was going to go through with.

"I'd like that very much." My dad said to me.

I'd like it very much as well."

**Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV**

"I'll kill all of you!" I shouted at this whole fucking district. They thought they were safe from me just because I was in a straightjacket, blindfolded, and had a muzzle on!? They were wrong and foolish to think that. I was going to come back here after the games, and murder each and every person who dared do anything to me. They deserved nothing less.

I felt things hitting my body. They were probably hard objects. I wouldn't know, I couldn't feel pain. I was never hurt in my life. Not when I was burned, not when I was stabbed. I never felt pain in my life. Not physically, not mentally. I didn't feel anything when I burned down my home, killing my parents and my younger siblings. I wasn't sorry. I did that so that I could live alone and do my hobby in peace. So getting hit with objects was more of an inconvenience then painful. "Get over here!" I shouted at them. "I dare you! I dare you! I dare you!"

They wouldn't though, they were all too scared of me. And why shouldn't they? I was the reincarnation of a god. The ancient literature had described me perfectly, and what they described was a chained god of evil. A great god named Tharizdun. That's what I was, a god, not some boy called Zap.

"Go and die!" A voice shouted.

"This is your retribution!" Another shouted.

"Hope they spear your face off!" Another shouted.

Weak. That's what they were, weak. Too scared to face me themselves, so they stayed in packs, picking on anything they thought was defenseless. Like a pack of rats running from anything that came too near. They couldn't stop me, nothing could. Because. I. Am. Invincible.

And when I came back. The first person to go would be that thirteen year old bitch that ran away from me and told on me. I thought of how I was going to kill her as I got dragged away by those so called peacekeepers. Oh yes, she was going to pay. The images of what I would do to her played out in my mind, and it offered me some glee as I was being hounded by these inferior beings.

**District Four**

**Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

As I stood in the middle of the justice building, I thought of what I was going against. Real careers, not like me. District Four, a half career half non-career district. If only I was reaped last year, there were volunteers for those two reaped kids. Only if. Those thoughts filled me with dread.

"Hi Eva." I heard a deep voice say. I looked over and saw my dad standing not twenty feet away from me. I looked over and smiled at him. He had made it. He got out of his depression, even just for a bit, to see me off. That alone, was worth smiling for.

"Hi dad." I responded happily. Ever since mom died, he hadn't been doing so well. I had to help him fish and everything. Not that it was bad, it had become more of a routine chore between the time I had started, and now, even though there were times that I just wanted to throw everything away and just quit. Plus, I knew that he wasn't mentally fit for the job. At least fully.

My father sighed and scratched the back of his head before saying.

"I know I haven't been there for you and Macey lately, but I just want to say, I'm proud of both of you."

"Dad," I said not wanting him to go back to the former shell of himself. "Please don't go back into depression, please take care of Macey."

"I'll try and get back to work." My dad told me. I knew it wasn't a guarantee but it was better then nothing. A start, and maybe it would lead him to getting better. We then just stood here looking at each other until the peacekeeper told him it was time to leave.

I would of liked more words with him, but I guess this was all that needed to be said.

Macey, my thirteen year old sister, came in next. And I didn't know what to say to her.

"Eva!" She shouted to me sadly. "Your coming back aren't you!?" I didn't know how to tell her that I didn't think that I was coming back. But I couldn't tell her that could I? So I put on a fake face and lied.

"Of course I'm coming back." I said putting on the fake smile. I'll be strong in front of her at least. "I'll come back for you." Macey seemed to cheer up dramatically when she heard this.

"Really?" She said in extreme happiness. The smile on her face, the way her eyes lit up from my lie. I just couldn't tell her the truth now.

"Yeah." I told her kneeling down to match her height, telling her that I was being serious now. "But until I come back, make sure you take care of dad, don't let him slip back into depression." She needed to do that, because I knew what would happen if he slipped back into the pit of sorrow, and it was anything but good.

"Ok," Macey told me "I'll try." I then leaned forward and gave Macey a big hug.

"I love you Macey." I told her. She was practically my life. I did everything for her. If my brother Timothy hadn't died, I'm sure he'd be here as well. Macey and I stayed with each other until the peacekeeper told us that our time was up and she needed to leave.

I watched Macey exit the door while thinking that I was probably never going to see her again. That she was going to watch me die on T.V. But I wasn't going to let that happen, I was going to come back for her, no matter the cost. Even though I knew that the odds weren't exactly in my favor.

The next person that came in was my best friend Flora. We've been best friends since I could remember. She ran up to me and wrapped me around in her arms, which I did the same with her.

"I'm sorry Eva." She said sadly. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this."

"It's ok," I told her trying not to cry from both this and Macey's visit. "Better then someone else going."

"No, not it's not, unless you chose to go in its not."

"Flora-" I started.

"Eva," Flora interrupted. "Win, just win, for everyone you care about, just, win." Flora then let go of me and held out a bronze fish shaped pin. "I didn't want Ruby to get anymore upset then she already is, and Ryder didn't want to exchange any bad words with you." Ruby, Flora's little sister. Ryder, my neighbor. They should have just came, it would have meant a lot to me. "They all chipped in to get you this though, to remind you of your district, who you're fighting for, so you won't forget." She handed me the pin before I wrapped my right palm around it and squeezing it, feeling the smooth metal inside my palm.

"I would never forget." I whispered, feeling that everyone around me was telling a dead girl to come home. It wasn't a good feeling. But I'd try to win, for them.

As the peacekeeper told Flora to get out, I couldn't help but think that I'd like one last swim in the river behind my house, to remember my mom by. Even if she drowned in it, it still held more good memories then bad ones.

**Shoney Germoal's POV**

The first person to enter the room was my older brother Galex. As soon as he entered the room he ran towards me and picked me up in a giant bear hug that nearly suffocated me. I was frightened so much that I screamed in a frightful voice for him to put me down. God he was powerful. Lucky for me he realized his mistake quickly and placed me back on solid ground. I hope he didn't break anything of mine. I needed to be in one piece where I was going.

"Well look at you now!" Galex shouted proudly. "Your one step closer to become a real career! Now all you have to do is show your skills to the other careers and hope that they'll let you in the career pack!"

"Hooray for me." I monotonely told him. If anything, it should be Galex here, not me, but I thought, what the heck, its not like any other time would be better. And I always wondered what it was like in the arena.

"Don't be that way Shoney," Galex cheerfully said smiling at me. "You've trained for this, you should be happy, after all, you volunteered for this."

"Yeah," I said with as little emotion as possible. "Guess I did." I'm just wondering what the games are really like, that's all. Let's not make a big deal out of this.

"Listen," My brother said grabbing my shoulders. "You're going to win."

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"Because of this." My brother said before taking off his favorite leather bracelet and putting it around my left arm. "Now you'll have to return this when you come home." I didn't get it, he was always mom and dad's favorite, why was he treating me like this? "You will come home." He said fiercely.

"That makes one of us." I blankly told him.

"Shoney." He said looking directly at me with a serious look on his face. I didn't like the looks of this. "Say you will win and mean it."

Aw man, do I have to? Fine, whatever.

"Guess I will." I told him feeling that he really thought that I could come home alive, and who knows, maybe I will. "Guess I will." I said for real this time.

**District Five**

**Alexander Natas's POV**

They hatted me because I'm an Albino. They loved to make fun of me because of my white hair and red eyes. That fucking warden placed me in a cage and charged people to look at me.

Those bullies, the warden, just about everyone in this district had done something to me. I wanted to kill them all in the most painful way possible. I wanted their blood to cover the streets of District Five. Nobody would be safe from me once I returned, not the men, not the women, not the children. They all contributed to my suffering, they can all be victims of it. Then after I killed them all, I'd set this whole damn district ablaze and watch the flames eat everything in its path. I felt myself smile as I thought of the bloody carnage I'd create. Yes, that was a delightful thought.

I heard the door behind me open and heard a deep voice shout.

"Hey freak! You've got a visitor!" Who'd come to visit me? Whoever it was I'd kill them. For now, I was immune, they couldn't kill a tribute before the games. How wonderful, a warm up victim before the games start. I turned around and saw the only person in this world that I didn't want to kill. The one that really talked to me and listened to me. Gabriel Ann Gel.

"Alex." He said as the door behind him slammed shut.

"What do you want?" I asked harshly. Even though he was maybe, just maybe my only friend, I still didn't trust him. He was with them, he was part of them. But even through all that, he was the only person that mattered to me. The only person that cared for me since my parents died when I was six.

"I want to know if you're ok." Gabriel told me. Shocker.

"I'm having some nice thoughts to calm me down," I told him while slowly walking to him "I'm thinking of how many people were going to die if I come back." I told him, liking every word I heard myself say. "Wouldn't that be a great sight? All that red running down the streets? That's your favorite colour isn't it? Red? Or maybe it's orange. which ever one it is, I can arrange to have it appear. Red for blood, orange for fire." Gabriel looked like he didn't know what to say. But that didn't matter, he never really knew what to say.

"Alex," Gabriel said not even looking at me "I'm going to miss you and all, but I just have to say that, even though the games make you kill other kids." Gabriel took a pause before saying "Try not to lose the humanity this district took away from you." I didn't know if it was the right thing to do, but I didn't care at the moment. I leaned towards Gabriel and kissed him. Gabriel seemed started at that because he backed away from me quickly. He then looked at me with shock and confusion in his eyes.

"That's what normal people do when they're going to miss someone that means something to them right?" I asked not knowing if Gabriel would answer or not. He just seemed too in shock to answer for some reason.

"Okay you!" A peacekeeper shouted from the entrance of this room. "Time's up! Time to go!" I then saw him walk to up Gabriel and grab him by the shoulder and start forcing him away from me. I wanted to break his arm to stop him from taking the only person who mattered to me. So long Gabriel Ann Gel I thought. Hope you live long enough to see this district run red with the people's blood and watch the orange flames consume everything in it's path.

**Valerie Snake's POV**

"But daddy," I screamed at him because of this unfairly. "Why did I have to be chosen!? Why couldn't someone else be chosen?" My daddy sighed stupidly before saying.

"Because you were the one chosen, there's nothing anyone can do about that." That was no excuse, there were ways to get around this.

"Well why didn't she just choose someone else!?" I exclaimed. It's simple, all they needed to do was either choose another name or someone volunteered for me. "I mean, she could have just chosen someone else right?" Daddy sighed again. I hated when he did that, he did it often for some reason. Being the mayor I guess was stressful, but did he have to do it so often?

"You can only not go into the games if someone volunteers for you." He told me.

"Well then why didn't anyone volunteer for me!?" I asked. I was never meant to be chosen anyway, why did life have to be so unfair?

"You can't ask a person to volunteer for you." Daddy said again.

"But you could have bribed them." I told him. I just didn't understand what was going through his head at the time, it was so obvious what to do. But at the moment, all he did was do the annoying sigh he always did.

**Valerie Snake's dad's POV (BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT)**

What did I do to deserve this, I thought. Why couldn't my only daughter just accept what was happening without making a fuss? I better get out of here before she started to have a temper tantrum that was as bad as her when she was six years old. I think that hit to the head affected her a bit.

"Time's up!" The peacekeeper that hit her over the head shouted. Perfect timing.

As I watched the peacekeeper drag away my unconscious daughter, I began to think about what was going to happen to her. She was undoubtedly going to get killed off in the arena, as I knew that she didn't have a chance of winning.

And while she was spoiled rotten, unfriendly, and due to lacking a better word at the moment, stupid, I couldn't but think that she was my one and only daughter.

As she got dragged through the doors that lead to the train, I couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness inside me.

I missed her already.

**District Six**

**Ricky Coler's POV**

"Ricky," My mom cried out as she held me in her loving arms. "Why did it have to be you?" It's just the way it is mom.

"It happened." I told her returning her hug. I could tell that she couldn't bare to see her only son go into the games. But it happened to someone every year. As much as I didn't like going myself, I knew that there was nothing that could be done.

"Don't die will you." My mom begged to me.

"I won't." I whispered to her.

Her time then ran out and she was forced to retreat from me. Then dad came in and he acted the same way as mom, sad. But at least he wasn't crying and hugging me. I was going to miss both of them, after all, what were my odds of coming back?

They weren't very good at the moment, which is why I'd have to turn them into my favor. Nobody wanted to die, and I was no exception.

I didn't want to leave my parents, I wanted to return to them and just live the life I had been living before. Nothing bad had ever happened to me, and while life wasn't easy, it was my life that I was living.

**Rayne Page's POV**

The first person to come forward to say goodbye to me was my older sister. Good luck was all she said when she entered. Thanks was all I replied to her before the room fell with silence.

That bitch didn't say anything after that and just played with her fake red hair while staring at the ceiling and tapping her foot, like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world. It pissed me off that she was acting like that, acting like she was forced to say goodbye to me and I wasn't worth her time. I knew that she'd rather be spending time with some horny, sex deprived guy in exchange for money rather then say goodbye to me.

I really hated her, she falls in love with the idiots in this district before getting pregnant and having abortions with her unborn kids. Pitiful. I hate her so much.

Then at last, her time was up. She quickly exited the room. Thank god, I couldn't stand the sight of her. Having her in the same room with me any longer and I don't know what I would of said or done to her. I mean, that's some nice jewelry she was wearing. Sure it was mostly fake, but bracelets with gems were still bracelets with gems.

The next person that came in was my brother. This was a surprise. He was never around me a lot since he had moved out of the family house.

"Hi bro." I said to him wondering what he was doing here. Was he here to be like older sis and just say good luck or don't die?

"Hi Rayne," he said sadly. He then walked up to me and presented me with a black leather bracelet with a fine wooden charm attached to it. "Rayne," he said placing it around my arm. "You have to win this, you just have to." I then felt sadness creep up on me. He thought that I was going to win. It made me feel sad that he had that much faith in me.

As he tightened the bracelet around my arm I felt like crying. And just as quickly as he came, he left. Did he not want to spend more time with me then necessary? Or was that all he needed to say? I didn't even get to think about that, because now I saw my father and my little sister Zlata.

Seeing them, especially Zlata, looking at with sadness in their eyes, looking as if they were going to cry made me lose it. I have almost never cried in my life. I have more fingers on one hand then the number of times I've cried in the seventeen years of my life. But this was just too much for me, seeing father and Zlata there looking at me like they were going to lose me was just too much for me. I didn't like seeing them like this.

My father hugged my around my body while five year old Zlata could only hug my leg. That was all the comfort I needed from them. We stayed like that till the peacekeeper dragged us apart.

The next person to enter was my only friend, Zee. I hatted the freckles around her nose as it made her look weird, but right now, it comforted me just to know that she had came here to say her goodbyes. She looked shocked to see me in my current state, but that was understandable, she had never seen me like this. And seeing father, Zlata, and Zee, I thought of what my brother said, that I had to win. And I was now going to win, so I could come back to them.

**District Seven**

**Sami Lavisa's POV**

Dad was "too busy to see me," as my nine year old twins told me. Knowing dad, he probably didn't want to say goodbye to me. That was understandable, who'd want to say goodbye to someone forever? I didn't want to say goodbye to Gracie and Jhono who were talking about what they were going to do when I got home from the games. They said that I might surprise people with my smartness. They said that I'd be smart enough to survive the games.

I liked that optimism, but I knew that what they were saying about me returning was most likely untrue, sad as it was.

"Hey big sis," Jhono called out to me. I looked at him and smiled wondering what he was going to say. "You will come back won't you?" I didn't know how to tell him that I wasn't going to come back, that I wasn't going to live through those horrendous games. I didn't want to tell him that. So I picked him up and nodded my head. He seemed happy about that, because he then presented me with a braided bracelet with three strings. One string was black, another white, the last one was a tan colour. "This is for you." Jhono told me as I used my free hand to take hold of it.

"It's meant to represent the three of us." Gracie told me as she pointed to the black string.

"That's Jhono because he's the bad one in the family."

"No!" Jhono screamed out "I'm white! Your black! I'm the good one!"

"I'm white!" Gracie screamed out at Jhono

"I'm white!" Jhono shouted at Gracie. I pointed to the tan one to try and soothe out the current situation, those two always fought, it was up to me to defuse it.

"That tan rope's you!" The two of them told me in unison. The three ropes they handed to me, they were made to symbolize us together. It was a powerful symbol. I felt like crying when I thought of it. I had raised them ever since mom got too sick to take care of them. And dad's too busy to take care of them. The two of them really only had me to take care of them along with each other, so it was my responsibility to take care of them in the place of my parents. How would they react when one of those strings broke?

I picked up Gracie and held the two of them in my arms. The two of them were getting too heavy for me to pick up and hold, but this could be the last time I held them. And I was going to make the most of it.

**Bo Heatherfield's POV**

The Hunger Games. The killer games. The murder games. Whatever you want to call it, that's what they were to me, just one, big, killfest. That's where I'll be in a few days time. I don't want to kill anyone, and I don't plan on doing it, even if that's what people say you have to do in the arena. I'll hide. I'll hide until everyone has died fighting each other or died of other means, that's how I'll win. I just hope that that plan won't go wrong and I'll have to kill somebody. The thought alone sent chills down my spine.

I heard the doors burst open as I saw Floopy run across the room and fling herself onto me and nearly made me fall over due to her sudden appearance.

For a fourteen year old girl with little muscle, it surprised me that she could almost take me off my feet.

"Bo!" She cried out as I stumbled and regained my footing after a couple of steps. "Why did it have to be you that got picked?" Because it was my fate? I looked at her and saw tears spilling out of those green eyes of hers. Seemed like everyone was crying today. Me, that Sami girl, now her. I looked away before she started screaming out. "Why did it have to be you!?" I don't know, why did it have to be me? Why couldn't it have been someone else? She then kept on going how it was unfair that I had been chosen instead of any other person. But why did it have to be anyone anyway? It's unfair to anyone that's picked.

When her time was up, the peacekeeper had to drag her out because she refused to leave. But the peacekeeper finally managed to pry her, actually, more like beat her off me, before dragging her out of the room I was in. I didn't his method of getting a girl to let go of me, but really, what could I do?

The next person to enter was Luke.

"I'm sorry about all this." Luke said looking at me and around the room. "I should have volunteered for you." No, you shouldn't have, you did the right thing by staying quiet. I wouldn't want you to be sent to your death. You're like a brother to me, and it would have pained me for you to lay your life for me. "I'm just, sorry for not being for you there more."

I shook my head at him and smiled. You've done enough for me already Luke. You may be muscular, but could you fight like careers? I don't think so. Besides, you have to take care of Floopy. Jimmy can't do it himself, because Floopy's a very stubborn girl. Only Luke has the energy for her. "I mean, how will you survive?" I then covered his eyes with my hand, telling him that I'd hide from their sight. But Luke didn't get it and said that he wanted to see me. I removed my hands from his eyes.

Then he started trying to comfort me by patting my back and telling me it was going to be alright. That all I needed to do was kill the last tribute if I played my cards right. But I didn't even want to think about killing. I didn't tell him that though. When his time was up, he patted me on the back one last time before saying good luck and leaving, but not before I saw him holding back tears in his golden eyes. Those golden eyes that I feared were taking a toll on his life.

The next person to enter was my adopted father, Jimmy. He had taken me in because he was my family's friend, and that's what friends do I guess, take care of each other. I was grateful for everything he had done for me.

"Hi Bo." He said to me through his thick beard. I nodded to him, letting him know that I was saying hi back. He looked like he wanted to cry, but he was holding it in. "I'm sorry that this happened to you." I'm sorry that this happened to me too.

Jimmy sighed before saying "You know Bo, ever since your family died of sickness and I took you in, you've become like a son to me." Like Luke? "Like Luke." Jimmy said like he was reading my mind. I smiled, happy with that thought. For someone almost sixty, he did a lot of work raising Luke, Floopy and I. "So it pains me to see you off." I pause came before he said yet again. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry." I whispered to him. His eyes then shot up like I had done something amazing. But then the peacekeeper told him to get out because they were on a tight schedule. I then saw tears flow from Jimmy's eyes, and that was the last thing I saw from him. "Sorry." I whispered again. I'm sorry.

**District Eight**

**Dav Ander's POV**

"I shouldn't have been reaped." I told Ronald. "I shouldn't have been reaped." Why couldn't have been someone else? It should have been someone lower then me, but no, it had to be me. Why? This wasn't right.

"But it happened." Ronald told me.

"I know that stupid," I spat at him. Thanks for stating the obvious. "Why do you think I'm here."

"Well your aunt Mia is happy for you," he told me. "She thinks that this will make you into a man or something."

"Do I look like I care what Mia thinks?" I asked him, not caring the least about what aunt Mia thought of me. And how could she think this was good for me? I was never supposed to be chosen, this shouldn't have happened. There was nothing good about this situation, Mia was stupid for even thinking something like that.

"You could at least care a little," Ronald told me. "I mean, she did take you in when your parents divorced and neither wanted you to be with them."

"True." I told him, thinking back to when my parents had separated. Aunt Mia did take me in when my loser parents didn't. And I was glad for that, mom and dad were poor, so they could never get me what I wanted. Aunt Mia was rich, she could get me the stuff I wanted. "But, fuck, what could possibly make me a better person in the games?" That's what I thought, what did Aunt Mia think would happen to me in there?

"I don't know Dav." Ronald told me not knowing the answer as well. "I don't know."

**December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV**

Why did it have to be me? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Maybe this was what my ancestors up above cooked up for me. My father stole from a merchant, so maybe because of that shame, higher up powers wanted to pay him back, even though he tried to pay his dues. Maybe it wasn't enough for them that he was separated from his family, never allowed to come back because he was now a peacekeeper in District Three.

He wouldn't even know about me going until it showed me on T.V. How would he act? How would he take it? I wouldn't know, because he could never see me again anyway. What was he thinking about? Was he wondering if I got reaped? Was he thinking about mom? Or was he thinking about pretty daughter June?

I came out of my trance when Kastin came through the doors.

"Kastin!" I called to her waving my hands to her. Kastin saw me and ran up to me.

"How are you?" She asked shyly.

"Not good," I told her truthfully "I'm about to be sent into the games, the thing I hate most in this world." Kastin looked down looking embarrassed that she even asked. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words.

"I'm sorry." Kastin whispered.

"No, I'm sorry." I told her. "It's just, I'm going to go into the games and such."

"Yeah, sorry about that too." Kastin and I talked for a little while until her time was up.

Next came in Maura.

"Boy!" She shouted suddenly. "What bad luck to have been picked!"

"Your telling me." I sighed, why did it have to be me?

"Why do they even have the Hunger Games anyway?"

"Because they feel like it?" I told her, even though I didn't know the full answer. The Capitol said it was punishment for the first rebellion, but was that all it really was?

"Is that all?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know. I wish I did though.

"Well, I hope you make it back here, We're going to miss you."

"I'll miss you all too." I told her. She then looked surprised before she held out her hand and I saw something black in it. I screamed loudly as I saw what it was. It was a spider! I fell down and backed away quickly. But all Maura was doing was laughing.

"What's so funny!?" I shouted in fright as I looked at the spider in her palm.

It's fake." Maura laughed as she dropped the black spider down, that's when I noticed it was plastic.

"That was a cheap trick!" I shouted to her, angry at her cheap trick. "You know I hate those things!" Why did she have to do that to me?

"Well," Maura said with a smug smile while helping me to my feet "I won't know when I'll see you again, so I've got to make the most of it." By the time she helped me up, her time was up and she had to leave.

"That was a cheap trick!" I shouted back to her as her and Jackson passed each other. Jackson looked at her before facing me.

"What was that all about?" He asked curiously.

"Fake spider." I told him, still kind of mad that Maura had scared me nearly half to death.

"I see." He replied.

"Why did she do that?" I asked. "She knows I'm deathly frightened by them.

"Well, you know her." Jackson told me. Yeah, I did, she was like that, not all the time, but still. Jackson and I talked until his time was up and he had to leave. But before that happened, he gave me the bracelet that we had made when we were twelve. We made it to give to the one that got reaped, if we got reaped. It had three charms on it. One was a small white and green china button with swirls and a small hole in it to fit a chain through it. That was made by Kastin. The second charm was a star painted with green and white strips. The third charm was simple, red metal star. It brought back memories of when we were twelve. When we were invincible from the reapings. When we were all alone, together. Now it was going to be all gone for me. Why? Why did this have to happen?

Then an unexpected sight occurred. I saw my sister, June. What was she doing here?

"What does miss perfect want?" I asked her, not feeling the best of emotions towards her. But then I saw her start to sob. Why? Didn't she hate me? "Why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because I'm sorry, that's why." June told me still crying. She walked up to me and gave me a big hug. "I'm sorry that I treated you like shit." She said to me "I really do love you, even if I never really showed it."

"You never really showed it." I told her. After all, she was the one that mom and dad liked most. Because she was better looking and better at sports then me.

"I know." She whispered "I know, and I'm sorry." We then broke apart. I saw her eyeing something. I followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the bracelet. What did she want with it? I then saw her look at her right hand before lifting it up and pulling off a silver ring with an emerald on it. Something that mom had given her as a present. She pulled the ring off her pinky finger, took hold of the bracelet, and put it on the bracelet chain. Why was she doing this? She never acted this way before. "Bring it back when you win." She told me looking at me square in the eyes.

"How?" I asked. "How can I win?" June shrugged.

"I don't know." She told me. And how could she, you'd never know what would happen in the games. "Your the smart one, I'm sure you can think of something."

**District Nine**

**Talliana Messine's POV**

I never thought that I'd be reaped. I never even gave a thought about it. I never signed up for tesserae or anything. Guess it was just bad luck that I got picked.

The first person to walk into the room was my mother. The person who works even when she isn't supposed to. She does her job as a homemaker, then helps out the district when she has free time, she was always busy. I don't know if it was because she was a person that wanted to help around, or because she wanted to make some extra money. Either way, it was her decision, and I didn't mind that she did what she liked doing.

She told me that she was saddened by me getting reaped, she said that I had a better chance of not getting reaped because I never signed up for tesserae. But luck wasn't on my side this year.

"It's not your fault mom," I told her while trying to get her to relax. "You did everything you could, things just, happened." She really did everything she could. Because of her and dad working, I never had to sign up for tesserae. Mom then asked about how she was going to live without me. Who was going to look after my seven year old brother and sister when her and dad were at work? And how was she going to live knowing that doing everything she could wasn't good enough? "Hey," I told me trying to cheer her up again "look at it this way, if I win, we'll never have to work again." That seemed cheer her up before her time was up. I couldn't stand to see her like that, I'm glad I made her feel better before she left.

The next person to come in was my dad. Being an owner of a small factory, he didn't have to work as much as mom, but he worked a lot to make sure that I never had to sign up for tesserae. We talked for a bit until our time was up. My seven year old siblings came in next. If I won, Wynter and Fyntrain would never have to worry about signing up for tesserae, we'd live a life of luxury.

"Hey sis." Wynter said "we've got something for you." She then presented me with a white plastic anklet.

"We made that for you." Fyntrain told me. I looked at the simple made anklet before looking to my siblings and smiled at them.

"Thanks." I told them before hugging both of them. It wasn't much, but they brought this for me, and I couldn't be happier with them. Then their time was up.

The next people to come in were my friends. One at a time, they told me that when I came back, they were going to hold a huge welcome back party for me. And it wasn't going to be a small party where we only hold once in a while, where five or ten of us have to chip in small amounts of money each for our little so called party, but a huge party. A real party.

I'd like that. I really would. If I could get through my worst nightmare first.

**Arrowe Winter's POV**

"Why'd you volunteer?" My mom shouted both angrily and sadly to me. I could see that behind all that rage she was pushing towards me, was sadness. "Why'd you have to lay down your life?" She continued to shout at me.

"Mom," I started explaining to her, trying to get her to calm down. "I thought this through, I know what I'm doing." I had a plan, a good one, one that was bound to work in one way or another. Well, maybe not. But it was a risk worth taking. High risk can equal high reward if played right, and I was going to play it right.

"You sent yourself into a death sentence!" Mom screamed to me. "I know your a risk taker but you've has gone too far this time!"

"No I haven't mom." I told her, ready to explain that this was a calculated risk. "I'm not, I've got a great plan and it's going to work." I wanted to explain my plan to her, but she cut me off by placing her hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"You just don't know when to quit don't you." My mom said quietly, frustrated with me. "You think this will set a good example for your sister?" Fay. Sixteen year old Fay. She'd never do such a thing, volunteer. When mom removed her hand from my mouth, I told her

"She'd never volunteer, she knows better." Because no one but me is willing to do something as daring as this.

"What if your plan goes well and she thinks that she can do the same thing?" The shock hit me, I'd never thought of that. That's when the peacekeeper told my mom that her time was up. But before she left, she told me not to end up like dad.

Dad, he liked taking risks too, but that's what lead to his downfall. To take a shortcut while walking in the mountains, he took a dangerous path, and got his food stuck between two rocks, and starved to death. It was days before anyone found him. Dad. I'm sorry to say this, but why did you have to be so stupid? You could of freed yourself, and yet, you didn't. I couldn't understand your decision to just hang there and starve to death.

The next person to come in was my older brother Transton. People say that we look a lot like each other. Maybe, I was around him so much that I didn't notice. But if there was one thing that I did notice, it was that he didn't have one black eye and one green eye. He only had bright green. Unlike me.

"What's up bro?" He asked. He tried not to sound worried, but he couldn't fool me. I knew what he sounded like when he was worried.

"Nothing much," I told him calmly, trying not to make him worry so much. "Just putting my genius plan into action." Transton looked curious when he heard that.

"And what is your genius plan?" He asked wondering what my plan was. I was glad he asked, I didn't have a chance to tell mom why I volunteered, and I knew that Transton would understand.

I then told him my plan with great detail, telling him everything I wanted him to know. Mostly, only careers volunteer, and they're recognized throughout the Capitol. The same with some other volunteers, like in the seventy fourth hunger games, that Katniss girl. My plan was to volunteer and act confident, and that in turn would get people to recognize me, and in turn, that would gain me sponsors.

"Plus I like taking risks." I told him at the end.

"So I've noticed." He said while smiling. He then shook his head side to side while still smiling.

"You're one crazy bastard you know that?"

"So I've been told." I then saw him take off one of his earrings. A small golden hoop with a small onyx stone dangling from it. He unhooked it from his ear before passing it over to me.

"That's your token," He told me "remember us while your drowning in sponsors." I don't know if he meant that literally, but when he said drowning, I couldn't keep the fear out from my mind. Drowning. "Oh hay hay hay." He said apologetically "sorry, I forgot that you fear, you know."

"It's ok," I told him. "You forgot."

"Time's up!" A voice shouted. That peacekeeper.

"Fay sends her love." Transton told me while leaving "she said that she shouldn't say goodbye to you, because your coming back." And while the door closed, I thought of Fay. She had so much confidence that I could win. Knowing that, I felt as if she had said it to me in person.

**District Ten**

**Max Starling's POV**

"Why did I have to be chosen?" I asked my dad who was standing in front of me in the justice building. "Why did I have to be chosen? I don't want to go into the games, it's scary. I'm only thirteen, I don't stand a chance against those eighteen year olds or the careers. I can't go against them, I'll die. Why me?"

"It just happened Max." My dad told me. "You got picked and that's how it is." Yeah, that's how it is, someone has to be picked every year. But why did this year's tribute have to be me?

"How can I go against those other tributes? That Life Lee doesn't look like much, but she's older then me, bigger then me, stronger then me most likely, in fact, I think all the other tributes are going to be older, and bigger, and stronger then I am. It's not fair, why couldn't an older kid have chosen instead? Why-"

"Be quiet Max! Stop crying!" My dad shouted at me. I was so surprised that I did stop. I looked at him as he shouted at me. "Complaining won't change anything! I don't want to hear another complain from your god damn mouth! God, if you mother heard you I don't know how she'd react." Mom, she died birth giving birth to me. Why did she have to go? It seemed that because of her death, my life wasn't as good as it should have been. I started to cry harder just thinking about her.

I've never seen her in person, only in pictures, how would I know how she'd feel? Dad took a long, hard sigh before talking to me again. "Look son," he started to tell me in a calmer voice. "I'm sorry for over reacting, but you just can't change stuff like this."

"Yeah," I said to him understanding. "I understand." Just like how I was here and mom wasn't, I couldn't change that. "It's just that, I don't want to go into the games. I'll be killed out there."

"Max, if there's one thing that you can do better then other kids, its that you can go a long time without food."

"Yeah!" I shouted feeling instantly better. Now that I thought about it, if there's one thing that the careers can't do, its go hungry. If they go hungry, they get weak. "Yeah, I can out starve the others! And then when their all weak and tired, I can easily kill them, and if I'm lucky, I won't even have to do that." I saw my dad smile at me

"That's what I want to hear, you in high spirits again." I then saw my dad reach into his coat pocket and pull out a small piece of tree bark. He handed it to me, and I took it. "When you're in the games, take out this piece of bark, and think of home, think of your mom."

"Yeah." I told him thinking about mom. "Mom wouldn't have wanted me to die. She gave me life, I can't shame her for that. Dad, I'll win, and I won't shame mom's death for giving birth to me. I won't waste her sacrifice." Then with as much confidence as I could build up, I told him "I will win, for mom."

**Life Lee's POV**

"Life!" I heard Laurel shout from the door way. I looked at her through the tears in my eyes. Every year on this day, she had to see kids get reaped. Now this year, it was me, and to make it worse, today was Laurel's birthday. It was like fate was playing a cruel trick on Laurel.

She ran up to me before grabbing me around my body. "Don't die!" She cried "Please don't die!"

Dying, I've had enough death for a lifetime, and yet, fate just had plans in store for me. Just like they had plans for my whole family. First was my sister, Faerie. My sister who I'd play with, swinging her around me as I held onto her knees until we were both red faced and tan from the sun. But then one day, when we were playing, our horse, Den, took the life out of her. Old Den stomped on my sister, dislocating everything that was in her body. I remembered the sound of the hooves hitting her. Twenty four times he hit her, then on the twenty fifth, ended her life when he crushed her skull with a sickening wet crunch.

All that remained of her was a pile of red paste and broken bones.

"Why did it have to be you?!" Laurel cried out.

Yes, why did it have to be me today. And why did it have to be Papa that died earlier then he should of? The man that would let us ride on his back and play tag with my sister and I if he wasn't busy working. But then things took a turn for the worst, Papa died by getting shot. Twenty four times bullets entered his body, then the twenty fifth exited the back of his skull.

And for what? Grandma died around the same time as he did. But at least she died of natural causes. She had lived her life. But Grandpa was too full of sorrow to go without her, so he found a way to take the pain away. Somehow, he managed to get a supply of morphine, and started to feed on it. Papa and I found his body, yellow and pussing on his bed. Guess how many needles he used. Twenty five.

"How will I live without you!?" Laurel cried. I then wrapped my arms around her body as I thought of Mama.

I didn't like grandpa because he was a shady man. How else could he have gotten that morphine? But Mama tolerated him, so I tolerated him as well.

She loved all of us, and she didn't stop caring about us until the day she died. The doctors told us that she died of cancer, whatever that was. And when the doctors said that she only had a limited time to live, they sent her into isolation. Isolation without food. Then next time we saw her body, she was full of maggots and flies. They said it was from the cancer. But I knew that it was from starvation. And that forever left a hole in my heart that's never been filled. She was gone but not forgotten, that's why I wore the faded blue dress she made me, even though it is a bit too tight, and I also wore her old work boots and her old jacket. To remember her.

"You have to come back," Laurel cried "even if it's just for me, you have to come back." Laurel, the little girl I've taken care of, like a little sister. "Like all those stories you used to tell me, we could be like princesses and fall in love, and be happy. We could run away together. We can be happy, can't you see? We can be happy forever. Please, just come home." And there I stood, embracing Laurel. She just reminded me so much of my sister, Faerie. I then started to silently pray that I'd come back for her. Suddenly, she started praying as well. I hated that I couldn't think of anything to say, I only cried harder as I thought, why didn't I see that I was still loved all this time?

**District Eleven**

**Angel Hale's POV**

"Hide, that's what you can do." My two older sisters told me. They somehow managed to convince the peacekeeper to let them both in at once so that they could both say goodbye to me. At least they came to say goodbye, I knew that dad wouldn't want to say goodbye to me, even before they told me that he didn't care if I didn't make it back or not. I had expected that. But really, maybe it was better that he didn't come here.

"But I can't hide forever," I told them thinking of how the other tributes were bound to find me eventually. And if they didn't find me, there were some sick traps that the gamemakers might spring up because the games were getting too boring for the audience. "If there's not enough fighting going on, they'd send something in or something."

"Well then move away when that happens." You made it sound easy. It might not be that easy in the arena.

"Nooo. Really?" I told them sarcastically because they were telling me something completely obvious. "I'm just going to stay there and wait to be mauled by mutts or burn to death by fire." Like I was stupid enough to stay in the place where the traps were being activated.

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something, your both brave and smart." I smiled at them, thinking about what they had said to me.

"That I am."

"Hey. Your allowed to bring a token to remind you of home. Do you still have-" I knew what they were going to ask before they were even going to ask it.

"This?" I said holding up the bracelet with mom's name engraved in it.

"Yeah." They said looking at the bracelet.

"Don't worry," I told them. "I'll survive, mom's death won't be in vain." And then, their time was up.

I was going to win so that we could live, so we wouldn't have to relay on dad anymore. We could live without starvation. We could live without the abuse from dad. I could make everything better for us. I would make mom's spirit proud.

Next up was Katie, one of my best friends. We talked how we were going to miss each other and how life wouldn't be the same without each other. Time passed too quickly with her, and before I knew it, she was gone.

Then came Samantha, my other best friend. She told me she was going to miss me and I told her the same.

"What will you do for the games?" She asked. "You can't fight head on with the other tributes, especially the careers." Of course not, they'd kill me.

"I'm not going to fight them," I told her before explaining my plan to her. "I'm going to hide until there's only two of us left, then kill the last tribute when they least expect it." I knew that wasn't a very nice thing to say, but, when faced with either dying or returning home, the choice became easy. Though if it was an ally, it might be a little bit harder to kill them. But then again, it was me or them.

"If it works that way." She told me. Yeah, the gamemakers will make that difficult. "So, you going to team up with Aerin? The same Aerin that's in our class."

I knew who Aerin was. I knew who he was the second his name was called. He was a great person who got my attention for what he did for people, us included. He was nice and caring, and I was certain that I could trust him.

"I think he'd make a great ally." I told my friend, but also thinking of something else as I thought of him joining me in an alliance. "But do you think he'd want to join me?" I really didn't want to get rejected by him.

**Aerin Sevani's POV**

With two parents, one older brother, one older sister, one younger brother, and two younger sisters, the justice building was a place of sadness. I was leaving, and they wouldn't know if I was coming back or not. But despite this sad moment, they gave lots of encouragement to me, they told me I was going to make it because I was strong and knew how to use some weapons expertly. I was glad that not everything they were saying was all doom and gloom, as there was enough of it already.

I told them I was going to make it, I was going to make it through for them. Because being poor in District Eleven with eight people in a family is hard to live on. With the winnings I'd get, we'd never go hungry again. We could afford enough food to never be hungry again, with some to spare. With the winnings, we could hire people to work on our farm, and pay them well, then at least they won't be hungry as well. Same with their families, and who knows, maybe that money will spread. Yeah, winning would increase the well being of not only my family, but other families as well. That was a thought to keep.

"Your coming back aren't you?" My six year old younger sister, Cassie, asked while looking at me with sadness in her eyes, repeating the same thing everyone else in my family, save my youngest sibling, Lyn, had already said to me.

I didn't want to leave her, or anyone else. But I had to, even though having even one family member go was going to be hard on the family. It was especially bad because I was only one of two kids that could sign up for tesserae. There used to be three of us signing up for tesserae, hoping that we'd get something, but one of us grew up.

"Yes," I told her smiling down on her. "And when I do, we'll never be hungry, we'll be living the good life." Living in District Eleven is hard, even when you sign for tesserae, because sometimes, you don't even get it. And my older brother, Rye, can't even sign up for tesserae anymore, making it even harder for us. He may be safe from the reapings, but that doesn't mean he's safe from starvation. But at least he's safe from the reapings. And since he's of age, he can work on better paying jobs. If you could even call them better paying jobs. But even slightly better jobs are better jobs.

"The good life." Cassie repeated while perhaps thinking of the good life. But then her time was up and she got escorted away from me. While she was walking away, I shouted that I'd do everything in my power to come back to her. I was going to come back, for her, for my parents, for my brothers and sisters too.

"Tell them I'll be coming back!" I shouted to her as the door closed behind her.

Next came one of my best friends, Ben. We talked about what was going to happen. He told that because I was strong, I was going to win. And it took him a while, but he also more or less said that while I probably wasn't as strong or skilled as a career, but I was better at starvation then them. Which was true, most of the times when the careers lost, it was because the cornucopia got destroyed or something killed their food supply. Maybe being from here would give me a huge advantage against the careers.

The question was how would I out starve those who had all the food with them. I may be able to stand hunger better then the careers, but all they'd need to do was wait for me to drop dead while they munched on their cornucopia supplies. Hopefully the arena would have some kind of food for us kids that can't grab food from the golden horn.

Next up came Thorn, my other best friend, who nearly arrived too late while wheezing heavily due to the incident during the reapings and the fact that he wasn't the most fit person in the district. Sure he worked hard in the fields and could work for hours, but running a long distance was one of the things that he wasn't good at.

As soon as he recovered, we talked, much like I did before with Ben. We talked about what was going to happen. But not about the games, about the district. What was going to happen to my family and such. If I lost, my family wouldn't be doing as well because of my younger siblings for age and work reasons. My youngest sibling, Lyn, needed to be feed, but he couldn't get a job for himself or apply for tesserae because he was only four years old. All he could do was assist another member of my family.

Cassie was six, so she could get a regular job herself, but it was going to be a new experience for her, and I worried that she'd do something that wasn't allowed or mess up on what she was supposed to do. I wanted to help guide her, but hopefully another one of the family member will be there instead.

I told him that I was going to win for them. The headband around my head that was made out of brown cloth, while being stained with blood and memories, was going to remind me that I needed to win for them, so that they could live the good life that they always wanted.

The good life everyone desired.

**District Twelve**

**Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

"They don't want to say goodbye to you," My older brother, Hale, told me as sat down beside me. What? They don't want to say goodbye to me? Well that was a kick to the face. "Because they believe that saying goodbye isn't necessary, because you'll make it back." Suddenly, all my pain and sadness disappeared as it got replaced by relief. They did care about me. And did they really think that about me? Sure I could do things, but did they really think that I could make it out of the games? Suddenly, all that relief turned into worry again as I wondered if they were putting too much faith in me winning the games. Would didn't want to disappoint them.

"Did they really say that?" I asked wondering if they really said that.

"Yep." My older brother told me. "They think you're invincible. Our younger brothers and sisters at least. I mean, because of what you do, and you do get away with it." He was talking about me stealing.

I stole things from peacekeepers and the mayor, then sold them to people at the black market. If you could even call it a black market. Basically it was just a small gathering of other people in the district doing illegal things, and people willing to pay for their goods. I heard that around sixty-five years ago, it was easier to do illegal trading, till the districts rebelled. Now it was just a pitiful gathering in the ruins of the fire bombing. Nobody bothered to try and repair the site of the previous black market, or what used to be called the hob. I didn't blame them, if they made another market as big as that, the peacekeepers would be on it in no time. And the only thing that would be accomplished was another pile of ruble.

"Only because I don't get caught." I told him. Speaking only the truth. "They should know that." If I were to ever get caught, I would get whipped until they could see my spine. And I couldn't afford that, I had a family to take care of. Three younger siblings. And Matthew, my twin brother.

Then there was Hale, my older brother, who was safe from the reapings but still wasn't safe from everything else that happened in the district. Who got crippled from the accident that killed mom and dad.

"That's why they think your invincible." He told me. "Because you never get caught." He then gave a little laugh that was more of a happy, not so serious laugh rather then a real laugh. "And because of that time with Tara."

Tara. I took a knife wound to the shoulder for her. Some jerk thought that she had stolen food from her. She got so mad that she pulled out a knife and was about to slash her across the neck, but I jumped in the way and took the slash to the left shoulder, leaving a scar that never healed. It was painful, but worth it. My sister hadn't gotten killed, but at the time, I wasn't sure I'd be able to say the same.

It was a good thing that a group of peacekeepers saw what had happened, otherwise who knows how it would have turned out. The merchant got whipped for assaulting me, after that, she left us alone. She gave me dirty looks, but she couldn't do much beyond that, but she almost never did anything besides give me and my siblings the look. Almost.

"Let's hope I'm invincible enough to make it back eh."

"Yeah." Hale said sighing with worry. "Do you have a token?" He asked.

"Yeah." I told him before showing him my ankle bracelet with a red feather cut down in size for it to fit comfortably on my ankle. "To remind me of you guys." It wasn't much, but it was my token, and I will remember them with this anklet.

Silence then fell over us for a couple of seconds before I told him. "I won't lose, I can't afford to." Then at that moment, his time was up. Hale then had to struggle out of the building with his crudely made crutches which were little more then thick pieces of wood reinforced with thin metal, leaving me alone with only my thoughts. I can't lose I repeated to myself. I just can't. Not with my family at stake.

They put their faith into me, so I had to have faith in myself as well.

**Colin Aldrin's POV**

So I got reaped and nobody volunteered for me, so what. I was going to win the Hunger Games because I was smarter then everyone else. I was able to see things that nobody else could see and think of things that nobody else could think of, because they were all stupider then I was.

Those that lost were idiots that didn't know anything, but I wasn't an idiot, so I wasn't going to lose. I'd get a bunch of sponsors and easily slide through the games and return home before I knew it.

**A/N: Colin's goodbyes still sucks :(**

**Well, here's the updated reapings, despite how copy and paste most of them are. I just hope that it's somewhat better then it was before.**

**You also know what sucks the most to me? Editing. Editing takes longer then writing the actual thing most of the time. But I know that editing is essential.**


	4. Chapter 1 part 3

**District Three's Nessa Christine Johnston's POV**

Here I stood in this train, which was absolutely breathtaking as it was the most beautifully designed place I had ever encountered. It was even better then the inside of the justice building, and that was really saying something, because as of not too long ago, the inside of the justice building was the best looking thing I had even been inside.

With the silver coloured walls, the clear glass tables with glossy gold frames and spotless glass windows that gave the perfect view to the outside world, it was nothing short of a wonderful sight.

And to make things even better, the gold framed table was covered with food and drinks that I had never seen before, let alone heard of.

As soon as I saw the food in front of me, I felt my stomach growl and my mouth water before I started to reach for the piles of food in front of me and started to eat it without a second thought. And god was it unbelievably good. The sauce, the richness, the flavor, the mere fact that it was food in my mouth, it was so good. So good that I wanted to just reach out and eat with my hands instead of eating it slowly with a fork and knife. But my parents had taught me to have manners, and I was going to keep it that way. I didn't want the Capitol to think that I was a slob. That could hurt my chances at sponsors, even if manners were the least of my problems when in the arena.

I may of been slowed down by the silverware, but even so, I still occasionally choked on some food and had to either hack it out of my throat or swallow it down with my saliva or with a drink of some kind. I choose to stick with water, as I didn't really know what else to ask for. And even though I had just choked on food, I resumed eating as soon as I felt no pain anymore. The food was that good and I was that hungry.

Also added with the fact that I had a lot of pent up energy inside of me that I was just dying to release.

I didn't like standing still, so this was doubling as a way for me to remain seated and keep me from running up and down the train.

"I'm glad that you at least have some decency," My half green, half red haired escort told me before looking towards the most feared creature in District Three, surrounded by five active peacekeepers in white body armor.

Their armor wasn't the thickest, or the strongest that I had ever seen, but it offered more protection then your average uniform. And I knew that they weren't wearing it to just be intimidating or looking tough. Knowing the creature in front of me, I knew that they'd need that protection, even if he is being restrained by a tight jacket with thick, sturdy belts that tied is arms together along with the thick blindfold that prevented him from seeing what was in front of him and the thick metal mask in front of his mouth. "Unlike someone here."

I didn't look, but I could still hear Tharizdun, or as he was better known as, the collector, trying to noisily eat the food in front of him by forcefully shoving it through his metal face mask, occasionally banging his head against the table, due to his restraints. I didn't know if he was actually succeeding or not, but from the way he was sounding, it could be going in either direction.

It might of been funny, if it weren't him that was doing it.

That person was responsible for a confirmed count of killing twenty seven girls in the district, and that enough would of made people scared of him as he managed to get away with that many murders right under their noses. But that wasn't the worst of it. What was worse about those murders was that he wouldn't just kill them. From what I heard, he'd kidnap them, rape them, choose a body part and rip if off of his victim while keeping it for himself, then finally, he'd rip out their throat and let them bleed to death.

The only reason he was caught was because his last victim, would be victim twenty eight, escaped from his hide and out told the peacekeepers was had been happening. He was hunted down by them before being thrown into solitary confinement.

I don't understand why they didn't kill him, that would of made things a whole lot easier. Because of he had been killed, like other murderers were, he wouldn't be in front of me now, slamming his face into the table and scaring me with his mere presents. But if he were dead, that would also mean that I wouldn't be going into the games with him. And that, scared me even more then the games itself, as it only made it worse.

I was a girl, he targeted girls. I was twelve, his victims were between the ages of twelve and fifteen. If I get unlucky, he could do the very same thing to me. I could be victim number twenty eight.

But that wouldn't happen to me. No. It wasn't going to happen to me because I was going to stay as far away from him as possible in the arena. And in the arena, they don't like psychotic, mentally challenged rapists like him. The Capitol would kill him before he even got a chance to hurt me. I'd be fine if I survive the bloodbath, because he wouldn't be here anymore. And if he didn't die in the bloodbath, he'd die as soon as he even thought of raping someone.

And he was always surrounded by five peacekeepers where ever he went, he couldn't hurt me with all of them around even if he wanted to.

It made me feel better and more confident that I was going to return home as I thought of the collector dying by the hands of the Capitol.

"Who's that?" I heard him ask through his metal mask, making his thick, deep, and rough voice sound even more evil then it already was. "I don't think I've ever heard that voice before."

"That's your escort." A young peacekeeper, probably twenty of age, told him in a not so nice manner. Somehow, I didn't think that they'll ever be nice to him. And would they? He had made their lives a living hell trying to find him. And I bet they felt like the majority of the district as well, they wanted to get rid of him, but something was keeping them from doing just that. "Now shut up and keep quiet."

"Can I see her?" The collector asked. "I want to her her. I want to see her. I wanted to see her. I want to see her." Why did he have to repeat words like that? Was it because he wasn't totally sane and he had brain damage?

"No you may fucking not." The young peacekeeper replied back harshly, causing our escort to give him a dirty look.

"Language." She told him in an equally harsh tone.

"And what part of shut up and keep quiet did you not understand." He continued, like he hadn't heard what the Capitol women had just said.

Through the voices of them talking, I was glad that the blindfold wasn't going to be removed, I didn't want him to see me.

"Well then," The collector said, not listening very well to the peacekeeper's orders. "Can you at least remove this annoying muzzle of yours so that I can eat?"

From the way he talked, I could tell that he was smiling. But why would be be smiling? There was nothing to smile about. Was there? Was there something that I couldn't see?

"What part of shut the fuck up," The peacekeeper growled angrily as Starbright continued to glare at him.

"Did you not hear me wh-"

"Don't you understand!" He shouted, interrupting our escort's speech before I heard something slam against the table as something broke. Most likely a dish or something of the like. It was so sudden that it scared me and made me jump.

I looked up to see that the young peacekeeper had his right hand on the back of the collector's head. I guessed that he had smashed Tharizdun's head into the table, destroying a plate of food before two older peacekeepers pulled him off his victim.

"Hey!" One of the older peacekeepers shouted at his younger companion. "Calm down Marco!"

"Screw you Lawrence! You know that guy deserved it."

"We have our orders from the Capitol," The elder said to the youngster, clearly showing that he was the one in charge. "No force unless it's necessary."

"It was necessary."

"No it damn well wasn't!"

"Language again!" The escort shouted bitterly at the fighting peacekeepers. "I don't want to hear those filthy, uncivilized words come out your your mouths for the rest of the trip!"

"Oh piss off lady," The young peacekeeper, Marco, retorted to Starbright, not looking the least bit happy.

"Shut up kid." The older peacekeeper, Lawrence, growled at him, trying to better the situation before it got worse.

"Both of you should just shut up and do your jobs in silence." Starbright told them harshly. "The Capitol might not be too happy with your performance if I told them how you acted like a pack of wild animals." She clearly threatened. It was enough for the peacekeepers to at least not fight anymore as their bodies calmed down, but not their attitudes. And they still looked mad at one person or another.

"You got lucky Zap." Marco quickly added.

Before Tharizdun swiftly stood from his chair and turned to the five peacekeepers.

"My name is Tharizdun you dumb ass!" He raged, causing me to gasp in fright. He was going to go on a rampage!

Marco backed away a step, but quickly regained his confidence in time to join his allies shove down the collector.

The collector, he easily towered all of them and looked at least as strong, if not, stronger then even the most muscular peacekeeper in the group. All of that just made him look scarier then he already was.

Why did I have to be with him? Of all the people, why did I have to be reaped with him? At least the peacekeepers could keep in him place until the gamemakers got rid of him.

"Sit your ass back down!" An older peacekeeper ordered before all five peacekeepers forcefully shoved him back down into his seat. I continued to eat in an attempt to stop my hands from shacking.

Being hyper and scared wasn't a good combination as I wanted to do nothing more then to jump from my seat and run away as fast as I possibly could. But at least I wasn't the collector right now. Heh, at I could eat and not be pushed around, unlike him. I was in a good spot right now. Unlike him.

"Do any of you want to see the reapings?" A male voice called out, just in time to interrupt Starbright from saying anything. Most likely it was to point out that the eldest peacekeeper was using inappropriate language again.

I'm guessing that it was an attempt to defuse the situation before it got anymore out of hand. It's a good thing he was trying to do that, because it could of escalated into the escort doing something to those peacekeepers, causing Tharizdun to be left unguarded, which would of been nothing less then a disaster. "Because I certainly do. I wonder what kind of tributes you're both going to be meeting."

And before anyone could answer, Ampf Tressel, our twenty six year old male mentor and winner of the one hundred and thirtieth Hunger Games, turned on the T.V set and guided us to the re-cap of the reapings. "Everyone turn your attention to the screen, the District One reapings are almost starting."

I turned to the T.V screen to see that District One text appear over the Panem seal. I wondered what kind of tributes would be shown. What kind of tributes I'd have to go against to make it out alive. I was interested.

I wouldn't doubt that I was the youngest one in the games. After all, what were the odds of another twelve year old coming into the games? It was just bad luck that I got reaped this year, even though my chances of getting picked were far less then an older kid.

"You know," Our escort spoke out, like she had just thought of something of interest. "It's unfair for him to be blindfolded while we watch the re-cap of the reapings."

Oh no, I thought as I listened to those words coming out of her mouth. I didn't like the sound of it. "Remove that blind fold of that man." All that did was make thing worse and confirm my fears. Removing his blindfold was a very, very bad idea and I couldn't believe that she actually suggested it.

"No." Marco told her bitterly with no hesitation. "We're not removing the blindfold."

Our escort glared angrily at the young peacekeeper.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" She asked harshly. "I told you to remove that blind fold."

"And I told you no you crazy bitch," Marco replied back in an equally harsh tone. "Do you have any idea-"

"Shut up kid." Lawrence snarled maybe a little too late.

"Kid," Starbright said to him. "Do you have any idea what happens to people that make the Capitol angry?" The room suddenly became irrily silent. The tension became high enough that I could feel it, and I wasn't even part of the conversation. "So," Starbright said with a superior tone. "You want to take that blind fold off now."

"Just do it Marco." A third peacekeeper said.

"Its not worth fighting her for." A fourth peacekeeper added.

I then heard someone, probably Marco, sigh heavily before I heard the sound of soft fabric being pulled down.

"So this is where I've been this entire time." I heard Tharizdun say evilly.

I didn't look at him. I didn't want to look at him. I kept my gaze at the T.V set, but I could feel his eyes looking at me, and it creeped me out. "Hi there girl," He said to me, causing the hair on my skin to rise up as fear ran deep. "We're going to have a lot of fun, the two of us."

"No you won't." Marco told him as loud cheering occurred from the T.V.

At least with the peacekeepers around, I was safe from him.

I turned my attention to the T.V and took some quick mental notes on the tributes we were going to face.

In District One, there were two volunteers, a tall, muscular boy wearing a jewel encrusted suit and a beautiful blond haired girl. The boy looked strong, but the girl didn't.

In District Two, brutal fighting erupted for the volunteers. I was shocked when I saw the District Two tribute, a small girl that looked my age. She had volunteered. Most twelve year olds try to stay away from the games, but she leapt right in. Why would she do that? She was like me. This, Howl Draconix, what was going through her mind? The male tribute looked more career like then her with a muscular look.

Then came our reapings. Me trying to cover up my sadness, but it quickly falling apart. Then came the collector who's anger could be seen clearly.

Then came District Four. It had one reaped girl and one volunteer. The reaped girl was like me, she tried to cover up her feelings, but failed.

In District Five, there was a girl who acted like a spoiled brat and a boy who was hatted throughout his district. Guessing from his red eyes and white hair, I'd guess he was an Albino, someone with a mutation.

It all flew by until I reached District Seven, when our escort said that District Seven had a couple of crybabies reaped. I then saw that the boy and girl were crying on stage. How much I wanted to do that on stage.

I tuned out until someone called out I volunteer. I turned back to reality because I was interested. We were passed the career districts, who'd volunteer? The boy confidently announced his name, Arrowe Winter. What was he thinking?

In District Ten, there was a thirteen year old boy who cried and said that he didn't want to go while the girl vomited on stage. Our escort made rude comments on the tributes before it moved on to District Eleven, which I turned out of. I didn't get back into it until I heard people groaning. I then saw that the District Twelve escort had gotten hit in the face with a hard object and her nose was bleeding.

"So," Our escort asked looking at me "what do you think?"

"Some of them are, interesting." I told her. And it was true, some of them were interesting. But the ones that stood out to me were the District Two girl, the collector, the District Seven tributes, the District Nine male, and the thirteen year old boy from Ten.

"What do you think?" The escort asked the collector.

"I think there are some lovely girls in there." He laughed. Reminding me once again why I should fear him. "I want them, I want them, I want them." I had a bad feeling about this.

**District One's Griffin Holloway's POV**

"What tributes should we get for our alliance?" My district partner asked me. What a stupid question to ask, she should know how this works.

"The usual." I told her. That meant the tributes from our district plus Two and Four. That's how it usually is, although some of them do go astray because they aren't exceptional enough, and sometimes tributes from other districts join if they prove themselves worthy enough.

Though for the most part, careers from Districts One, Two, and Four tend to ally with each other to form the most powerful team in the arena, killing off the lesser tributes that get in their way. They were a power house that nobody would dare mess with.

"Yeah, I knew that," Lynsa said like I didn't know better, which annoyed me. If she had any brains inside that head of her's she wouldn't of asked me that question and should of known what my answer was. "I meant anyone besides our normal career buddies."

Hmmm, that was a thought. A question that was actually useful. Maybe she wasn't completely brainless after all.

There were a couple of tributes that caught my interest, one of them was the guy from

Three.

Apparently he was so dangerous, that they had to place him in a straightjacket, blind fold him, and place a face muzzle on him. He could be useful, even if he was simply dumb muscle that we could exploit.

On the other hand, I wasn't sure about the girl from Two and the girl from Four. Two was only twelve, and Four was reaped. We couldn't have anyone slow us down and be a burden, it would only come and bite us in the ass later. And then there was the District Nine volunteer. He might have something up his sleeve that could prove useful, after all, he did volunteer.

The rest of the non-careers looked like losers, just like they were just about every year. They were just obstacles that were in the way of victory.

"District Three and District Nine." I told her. They might be of use to us. "The males."

"I don't know about Three," she said worryingly. "It took over five peacekeepers to put him down, and he doesn't look like the most sane person, do you really think that's a good idea?"

I gave a quick exhale of breath, questioning how she could think that it wasn't a good idea. If in fact it did turn out to be a bad idea, we could easily just stab him in the back. Those peacekeepers didn't have lethal weapons, so they couldn't really kill him, even if they wanted to. But in the arena, we could put him down permanently if he became a problem.

Nothing solved a problem in the arena better then decapitating said problem. That, and a well placed plan. Both of which I'd accomplish when the time came.

"Yeah, in the mean time, we'll check out the District Nine boy, we'll see how he is in training, then we'll make our decision."

My thoughts exactly. I nodded my head to show her that. "I'm also thinking of the District Eleven male, he looks strong enough to handle himself."

Strength. That kid did look like he had strength behind him, but strength isn't everything. To survive in the games, you had to have a plan to back it up as well. That was what made my older brother Dragon die. He thought that he could win with skill alone. I wasn't going to make that mistake. I was going to plan this all out from moment we made our alliance. I'd see their strengths and weaknesses, see who'd be the biggest threat and who'd be the smallest threat. Then in the arena, I'd form a plan using the environment. With both my skills and my plans, I'd be more then a match for any tribute in the arena.

The only reason Arrowe Winter was coming into the alliance along with the District Three male was because he didn't seem to be volunteering for anyone. He had been willing to go into the games by himself, and nobody stupid would of done that. He had a plan, and that meant that he wasn't some brainless brute.

"Try to check out the other tributes as well," Our female mentor, Aphrodite Amari, told us. "Some of them might be hiding something. Those District Sevens may seem like crybabies now, but what if they're hiding behind fake emotions? District Seven does have almost career like tributes."

Those two criers, career like? Don't make me laugh. But she had a point, they might be hiding behind fake emotions to draw in sympathetic sponsors. Or they might just want to be left alone until there are only a few of us left then kill us all. Tributes have done that before. And District Seven did have skilled tributes from time to time, but those two babies were nothing like them. I wouldn't be surprised to see them dead after the bloodbath was over. That is, if they weren't hiding anything.

"I don't know Aphrodite," Lynsa sighed. "They might be, but, let's further this conversation when we meet Two and Four in the training center. Then we can see what the other tributes are capable of."

She told her while grabbing a bottle of clear fizzy liquid. In the training center, we'd see how well the other tributes preform, then we'd make our pack from there.

**A/N: Well guys, I think I made a big mistake in publishing this story at the same time I'm in the middle of making another, pretty long, story that needs to be finished. Darn me and my impulses. **


	5. Chapter 1 part 4

**District Nine's Talliana Messine's POV**

The first thing I felt was pain. Even before I opened my eyes I felt a throbbing pain in my head and a little light headed as well as thirsty. And to add to the misery, my stomach also had pain inside of it.

What happened last night?

I got out of the soft and comfortable bed that I knew wasn't my own. It was too soft, and as I opened my eyes to look at the world around me, I knew that it was too clean and neat to be the itchy, stiff sheets that I was so used to. If anything, the soft sheets felt almost uncomfortable I was so used to the ragged sheets back home.

I was still fully dressed in simple clothes that were provided to me when I first entered my room on the Capitol train, so I wasn't too worried about their clothes as much as I would of worried about my great great grandma's dress if I was still wearing it.

I looked in the closet I remembered hanging it up in, to see if it was still there in the shape I had left it in. And thank goodness, it was. The dress was still hanging where I had left it, nothing had happened to it. That dress had been in my family for a long time, and I didn't want to be the one to get it destroyed.

I sighed as I looked at the dress, the one that had protected my mom, my grandma, my great grandma, and my great great grandma from the reapings. The games had been around for a long time. I was sure that I wouldn't get reaped, that the good luck that all the females in my family had gotten from the dress would continue to grant me luck. But I guess everything eventually reaches a point where it's no longer good anymore.

Now I was going to do something that had ever happened in my family, I was going to die in the arena, and my family was going to be watching me die.

I pushed those thoughts away, I didn't like thinking about the games, it wasn't a good thing to think about.

Though as I walked to the main car, where almost everything took place, and where we'd spend the majority of our time in, I passed a mirror that was six feet tall. In that mirror, I saw that the Capitol provided clothes were in rough shape as they were stained with food, liquid, and were wrinkled badly.

I must of gone crazy, I thought as I went back to the closet, stripped off my dirty clothes before changing into a bright yellow and white stripped shirt with dark pants. All the while, I wondered just what had happened last night.

At least now I looked presentable now instead of a slob. I didn't want the Capitol to think that I was a slob, because they wouldn't want to sponsor someone who looked like they couldn't take care of themselves.

But now that I thought about it, I wonder how my district partner was doing. If I was feeling this bad, I wonder how he was holding up. Probably he'd be in the same state as I was, or maybe a little bit better or worse.

I walked out of my room and into the main car before getting looked at my four pairs of eyes.

"Good morning," Our escort, Sandy Villas, asked in her normal tone, which made me think that they weren't expecting me to feel this bad. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm not feeling too well." I told her truthfully. "My head's throbbing, I'm feeling a little dizzy, and I'm thirsty." I hoped that she'd have something that would make me feel better.

"And you stink as well," I heard my district partner, Arrowe Winter, exclaimed playfully as I saw him wave his right hand in front of his face. "You should really hit the showers before you go into the Capitol and scare away everyone." I gave him a little laugh, knowing that it might be more then a little true.

I looked up and down Arrowe to see that he was still in the same ratty clothes he had been reaped in. Not only that, but his body was dry as well, so he wasn't any cleaner then he was when he was still walking around in District Nine.

"Well you don't smell like a rose yourself." I kidded with him.

"I'm the smell of District Nine." He sighed dramatically. "If the Capitol doesn't like that, then they can all be impressed with you smelling like puke after they witness how much alcohol and food you can consume."

With him saying that, I remembered what had gone on last night. I ate and drank like there was no tomorrow. And how could I resist, everything I had wanted was right in front of me for the taking, how could I refuse the free food and drinks? I couldn't.

I smiled thinking about all that heavenly delight.

"It was so totally worth it." I told him as I fell on a soft, leather couch. Even though my stomach felt like it was on fire, my head was pounding, my eyes felt a little heavy and I still felt tired even though it was probably closer to noon then it was to morning.

But it was all still worth it. It was better then any party that me and my friends could of ever put on back home. The wonderfully flavored food, the bottles of alcohol, the fun me and Arrowe probably had, it was like a miniature party. But it was still a better one than what might of been put on if I was back home, celebrating another year that my friends and I hadn't gotten reaped.

From the looks of Arrowe though, he hadn't even consumed any alcohol, but he did mildly smell of puke. That's why he was fine and I wasn't, he hadn't downed half a dozen tiny bottles of spirits. Oh the fun he must of had with me, the fun that I couldn't remember.

I looked at the shiny table in front of me and saw at least a dozen or so plates of food. Left overs. I could see feeding entire families with this amount of food, and yet, they were pulling no expense for us. Because they wanted us feed and as healthy as they could get us so that we could put on a good show for them.

I wanted to send all this food back home for my family consisting of my mom and dad and two seven year old siblings, but I knew that the Capitol wouldn't allow that. They weren't part of this event until the final eight interviews, and even then I wouldn't be able to do anything for them. Not unless I won. But, there was a good chance that I wasn't coming back. I mean, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I was going to get reaped.

But when Sandy asked if there were going to be any volunteers, I told her that there were going to be no volunteers, because I knew that nobody was going to volunteer for me. I mean, I love my friends, and they love me, but love only goes so far when it's your life on the line. Were you willing to sacrifice your life so that someone else could live?

Arrowe did, but I had a feeling that his main objective wasn't to save that kid's life.

I didn't know Arrowe that well, in fact, I hardly knew him at all. But I'm guessing that his family is so poor, he took a chance and volunteered so that his family could live better. Or maybe he really did care for that kid. I don't know, and I haven't asked.

I never thought of the games too much, but I still had to wonder if anyone was really that desperate to go into the games. I mean, there are the careers, but that was different. They were trained, Arrowe wasn't. And neither was I. "What do we have to drink?" I asked, looking at the food in front of me and thinking about my thirst in an attempt to stop me from thinking about the games.

"Well I knew what you're not getting," Arrowe said to me. "Anything with alcohol."

I'm just going to stick with water for now," I told him, not really up for any alcohol at the moment. "Or juice. Juice might be good as well. Just anything non-alcoholic for now."

"I'll order it up." Sandy told us before she walked over to a speaker thing and spoke her order into it. Then within thirty seconds, tall glasses filled with liquid appeared. I wondered how they could get their stuff so fast. Yesterday, it only took about a minute and a half for her to get a huge plate of food to appear in front of her.

"What do you think these are?" Arrowe asked. I looked over to see what he was talking about, to see him holding up crispy roll of food.

I shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine." I told him as Sandy placed down an orange coloured liquid in front of me.

There was so many different kinds of food in front of us, nearly everything I didn't even know what they were except for the simple foods such as rice and bread. Trademark foods of District Nine since we gave away grains that included rice, rye, and barley. There was food that I could only dream about eating in the district.

"Eugh," Arrowe shrugged, clearly not even caring what it was anymore. Not that I blamed him, it was Capitol food, and whatever it was, it was going to be good. "Whatever. It's Capitol food, it must be good." He said before he took a big bite out of the crunchy roll.

"You aren't even going to ask what it is?" I asked, wondering if he was going to risk his taste buds hating him forever.

"I picked it to eat it," Arrowe told me as pieces of food flew out of his mouth. "Not to hear about it."

I started to sip on my drink, tasting a sweet flavor in the liquid, before hearing Arrowe exhaling heavily. Not in pain, but something closer to uncomfortable. I looked towards him and saw him huffing in air like his life depended on it. "What is this!?" He shouted in both confusion and pain while pointing to the roll he had bitten into.

Now I was wondering the same thing, and mentally told myself not to bite into one of them.

"Spicy spring rolls." Our escort answered before drinking out of her bottle, like nothing serious was happening. In fact, I thought I saw her smirking.

I then saw Arrowe hold out his left hand towards me with an expression on his face that cried out 'please.'

"That bottle of whatever, can I have some?" He asked desperately. I was about to point out that he had a drink of his own, but hand over my drink anyway, when I heard our escort say to us.

"I wouldn't drink anything if I were you, if you drink something Arrowe, it will only get worse." I quickly pull the glass back before Arrowe could grab it. I didn't know if what she was saying was true, but if it was, then I didn't want to make it any worse for him.

"Well how to I get rid of this pain then?" Arrowe asked desperate for an answer. His face turning slightly red from what I guessed was the heat inside his mouth.

"You don't." Our escort answered with a laugh.

"Wow," Our male mentor spoke up while laughing a bit as well. "That's some touch luck son." I couldn't help but laugh a bit as well. These were interesting people.

"Oh ha ha." Arrowe laughed sarcastically before grabbing a glass of water in front of him and drank deeply. When he was done, he let out a satisfying exhale of air. For a moment there, he looked fine and I started to relax. If some liquid could cure his trouble, then I might want to try some as well. But then he started to inhale air deeply again. The pain was back.

"I told you." Our escort said looking displeased. Well, she was telling the truth, and I thought it was just to make Arrowe suffer.

"Just wait for a bit," Our female mentor told him taking one of his spicy spring roll things and taking a bite out of it. It was having no effect on her for some reason. "It will go away eventually."

"Nah," Arrowe said smiling. "I can take it." And with that, he seemed to calm down a little.

Well, that was interesting. These seemed like fun people. People that I wouldn't mind hanging out with for a bit.

"Oh hay, look at that, we're almost to the Capitol." Our male escort announced.

"What?" I asked, wondering how she could know that. "How can you tell?" I then saw him lift a finger up and point to somewhere behind me. I turned around and saw through the window, a beautiful city beyond anything I'd ever imagined before. Everything was so shiny, clean, and wonderful. I was truly amazed by the Capitol. I looked though the city looking at their shops and the people and their bizarre fashion. I was no really excited to go and see what else the Capitol had to offer. It was just, amazing.

"Pshhhh! Nice place." Arrowe said with some hostility in his voice. I looked at him like he was crazy. How could he say that? This was the best thing I'd seen in my life.

"How could you say that?" I asked him. Arrowe then nudged his head towards the city.

"Look at the colours and look at the people," He told me. "Then you might see why."

I looked out towards the city again, and didn't see anything wrong with it.

"You two better shower up," Our female mentor quickly told us, reminding me of how I still hadn't showered. "Before the Capitol smells you two and think your nothing more then dirty kids."

**District Six's Ricky Coler's POV**

Wow. Amazing. Those were the only words I could think of at the top of my head. So this is what the capitol looked like up close, it was even better seeing it in person then it was on T.V. Seeing was believing. You go through a dark tunnel, then the first thing you see when you emerge from it is this. Like going to another world.

If there was any place that I'd like to live, it was here. I wouldn't have to worry about going hungry, cruel peacekeepers, or dying before my time. I also wouldn't have to worry about no Hunger Games reapings drawing my name.

In the Capitol, the only things that I'd have to worry about is if I'm up to date on the fashion accessories and wither or not the Hunger Games were going to be good this year or not. That would be a great life to have. Not being scared, worried about death, or living in District Six where you work on either machines or trim branches off the trees scattered across the area.

Work until your dead, that's the life of most people in District Six. The few lucky ones, the rich, don't have to work as hard as the rest of us do, but even then, they still have to work.

I gazed at the Capitol folks and wondered if they really had anything worth worrying about. Sure they might worry about being out done by someone else in terms of looking, odd, and that they had to look other places for entertainment if the games weren't happening. But did they have anything to really worry about?

"Those people look ridiculous with those stupid fashion trends." My district partner Rayne Page announced, even though our blue skinned escort Sky was right behind us.

I turned my head towards Sky and saw the hurt and angry expression on her face. It would have been funny if I didn't see the big fork she was holding in her right hand like a dagger, ready to stab anyone that dared say another word. Even worse, she was pointing it right at us.

I just smiled at her before turning back to the Capitol audience. Better not provoke Sky anymore then we needed to. But Rayne didn't seem to care what our escort was doing and what her expression was. She wasn't going to any Capitol support any time soon.

Though I did hope that Rayne would continue talking trash about the Capitol and their citizens. That way, she'd be hard pressed in the arena and wouldn't be getting any outside support from anyone but her family, who's meager income probably wouldn't allow them to buy anything.

I knew my family was the same, even though my mom and dad only had me as their single child, but we weren't much better off then the majority of the district. They wouldn't be able to send me anything, which is why it would be ideal for some Capitol folks to get interested in me.

As I looked out the window, the Capitol citizens were all staring at us, the new tributes for the games. They acted as if we were celebrities, they were staring, cheering, clapping, and even waving at us. But despite all the attention they were giving us, I had to agree with Rayne about the Capitol fashion, at least some of it. Some if it wasn't bad, like simple dyed hair like saw on some of the young Capitol kids. Or the earrings and simple claws on some of the older kids. But I didn't like the dyed skinned, animal eared, unnatural colour eyed stuff along with stuff that I couldn't even say. And that was the majority of what they were. Even so, I couldn't help but give little waves to them and smile at them.

"Why are you waving to them." Rayne said in a kind of demanding voice. I turned to her while still smiling and gave her a shrug. "It's not like any of them are going to protect you in the arena." She told me. Why? Because your going to make sure you kill me? I wouldn't be too sure about that. I wasn't going to die from you, and try as you might, you weren't going to be the one to end my life. And wither the Capitol likes me enough to give me sponsors or not isn't up to you. But I was going to return home with, or without the Capitol's help.

"You might want to show them some respect," Our female mentor, Hanna Cooper, said to both of us, but I could tell that she was saying it more to Rayne then to me. "Those sponsors might be the difference between you being alive and you being dead. After all, you might not get a backpack at the cornucopia. And let's say you do get a backpack, what makes you think that you'll get everything you want? You might get a weapon and no food, or get food but no weapons. That's where the sponsors come in to save your ass."

She would know about sponsors saving you, her sponsors had saved her when she had left the bloodbath empty handed.

Hanna, who was hitting the hard side of fifty, had won her games because she had gotten a coil of wire from her sponsors. She wasn't the one for full on fighting, so what she did with the coil of wire was sneak up behind her opponents and strangle them with said item. She then stole the backpacks of the dead tributes she had straggled.

It was a rather scary and unexpected death if you ask me. One second your fine, then the next second someone is strangling you from behind. And if that wasn't enough, she killed one of the careers, and made the other careers turn on each other because of that simple act of murder.

"They won't sponsor me," Rayne responded simply, almost like she didn't care. Almost. "They'll want to sponsor one of the careers, especially if it's a good looking boy or girl. They'll be their first choice while the rest of us will be fighting for the scraps." I then heard Rayne give out a laugh, which I found a little odd, before she continued to talk. "Besides, I don't need sponsors to win. There's been tributes in the past that have won without sponsors, so I won't be spending my time trying to impress those who only see our face value."

**A/N: Still editing and trying to make it a little bit better then it was before. I'm not sure about this chapter.**


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